The 80 women who were prostituted in Santo Domingo and Bávaro might only use their passport depending on the place where they had to work and, if they did not have one, the network took charge, making them believe that they had a debt of thousands of dollars.
According to the file of the Public Ministry, the victims were only given a provisional passport when they went to work in five-star hotels or nightclubs that requested their personal identification. The operation was called Catlleya.
Of the victims, of whom 78 were Colombian and two Venezuelan, 49 carried a passport.
The investigation details that, to facilitate their transfer to the country, the criminal structure was in charge of issuing the passports and cover airfare expenses, and once brought to the country, the victims were forced to admit that they had a debt of between 3,000 and 4,000 dollars with the networks that mobilized them.
With this, the defendants managed to manipulate their victims, leaving them without pay since the remaining 50% that the ladies were entitled to was kept as a “contribution to the supposed debt that they have and that they must cover in full to be able to free themselves.”
In addition, they forced them to consume controlled substances, subjected them to humiliating and inhumane treatment and did not allow them any freedom typical of any human being, which led several of them to escape.
There are currently 15 people involved in the Cattleya case.
Among the accused are: Jose Michael Michel Guridis (Michel), Daniel Henry Inirio Abreu (Daniel), Jose Alberto Soriano Rosario (Surgeon), Oscar Wicene, Melvin Jose Valentin Peguero, Cristina Virginia Gonzalez Hernandez, Maria Paula Murillo Vargas, Louis Marie Nephtalie, Oliver Arnaud Lewinski and/or Timothy William Case Renee, Robert Lee Eleuterio Paniagua Diaz, Angelica Jhoana Quintero Child, Marie Fokina Achille (Fior, Flower or Flowers), Alexander Arthur Batista Bustamante (the Cat), Ramon Altagracia Oviedo Castillo, Carlos Jonathan Walwyn Campus Diaz (Carlos) and Braulio Manuel Lugo.
The network was dismantled last week through a series of simultaneous raids carried out by the Public Ministry within the framework of Operation Cattleya. While the coercion measure for those arrested in the operation will be known next Thursday at 9:00 in the morning.
