Bonita Springs prostitution sting nets 2 arrests on human trafficking charges» Naples Daily News

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BONITA SPRINGS — An undercover prostitution sting in Bonita Springs has resulted in the arrest of two people on human trafficking charges.

A man and woman are accused of making two other women prostitute themselves in exchange for rent and transportation fees, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Naomi L. Vasquez, also known as Naomi Jackson and who’s booking sheet states her last name is Velasquez, 31, a transient from Fort Myers, was charged with three counts each of forced labor or services by human trafficking and receiving financial benefit from those acts, according to Lee County Sheriff’s Office records. Bond was denied.

Her co-defendant, Derrick M. Ned, 33, who has multiple aliases and lists addresses in LaBelle and Lehigh Acres, faces the same counts in addition to warrants for fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer and driving while license was suspended. He was denied bond on the two warrants. His arrest report shows federal charges are pending and that he is a flight risk and not to be bonded out of jail.

Both are U.S. citizens, records show.

Reports about the sting and subsequent arrests released Wednesday provided limited details.

According to Sheriff’s Office reports:

On Jan. 13 undercover deputies were conducting a prostitution sting and arranged to meet two women in Bonita Springs. The women agreed to exchange of sex for money, and were taken into custody.

One of the women told deputies “that she was not engaging in prostitution voluntarily but was being made to do so by another.”

Four months earlier, a friend introduced herself to an unnamed man who said his wife, Vasquez, operated a business. She agreed to work as an escort. Eventually she was told she would have to prostitute herself to repay some money. After awhile, she had attempted to leave but was threatened. Her family also was threatened and she was not allowed to keep any of the money.

The other woman told deputies she too was introduced by a friend to the man about a month earlier and offered employment as escort. She agreed, but was eventually required to prostitute herself. An unidentified person told her the money was for rent and transportation.

A man “reminded all of the girls that worked for him that he was to be feared.”

Vasquez would arrange the dates and wake them up in the middle of the night to meet clients. Hotel rooms paid for by Ned and Vasquez were for the criminal acts, and not to provide shelter for either of the two women.

The investigation remains active and further information about the two women would not be released Wednesday, said John Sheehan, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman. He would say only they were adults.


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