Posted on 02/14/2024 11:48:24 PM PST by nickcarraway
The CBS12 News I-Team has been looking into a prostitution ring that works like a fast-food franchise, with locations all over Palm Beach County.
After our first story about a neighborhood brothel back in August, a whistleblower contacted CBS12 News En Español Anchor Carlos Mahecha and told him even though the location we exposed shut its doors, business is still booming in other homes nearby.
The source says he works for the owners. And he says in an operation like this, you don’t just have the women who are having sex for money; you need security guards, on site managers, even marketing people.
At face value, the operation is like a legitimate company. They even pass out business cards. The cards depict a woman wearing a chef's outfit. That’s part of the cover story; home-cooked meals, authentic Colombian food, but that's not what they're selling.
Promoted Links Servers From Around The World Share Idiot Customer Stories MA On the back of the cards, there's a map showing customers where to go to pick up the food. An X marks the spot.
After the I-Team's first story on The Brothel Next Door in August, a source contacted CBS 12 News, showed us the card and wanted to meet to discuss how this organization operates (WPEC)
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But the X does not show some back alley or a shady motel, on the contrary, it's a normal house, just a few yards away from a school bus stop. And when the I-Team went to have a look, kids were everywhere.
"This is bigger than a regular brothel house in the neighborhood, this is something big," said journalist Carlos Mahecha.
Three months ago, Mahecha and the I-Team exposed a house on State Street in Lake Worth as a brothel. Neighbors were scared because they didn't want their children around the shady characters the place attracted. And because the managers don’t put street numbers on those cheeky business cards - customers often walk into the wrong house.
The cards do show nearby businesses for new customers to look out for: A brothel in between a Bank of America and a Pawn Shop. Another across from a car dealership and a clinic.
All around the location, there are working families with kids.
"Because we are dealing with people who don’t care about others, for them, it’s only just selling a body," Mahecha said. "It’s not only a danger for the females working for this group, because of all the confrontations that they could get into with customers, but also the neighborhoods are in danger. Kids waiting, playing in the parking lots, in the patio. And they threaten the community if somebody contacts the authorities."
The new source who contacted Carlos and the I-Team supplied detail after detail, the whole playbook of the organization.
He says there are 40 to 50 women doing business in houses in Lake Worth Beach and West Palm Beach. Many are local, others travel from Central Florida, other states - even foreign countries. The women make their own schedules, do a few days’ work for cash and go home.
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According to the source, drugs also move through the houses, protected by armed guards and lookouts.
To attract customers and recruit women, promoters go to the two flea markets in Palm Beach County popular with minority communities. One by the Lake Worth Tri-rail station. The other at the old drive-in movie theater.
"And they see the type of people - who they can give the business card to- who can be a potential client."
Our source says many of the customers are construction workers and laborers, working in the States, sending money back to their families in other countries. They are alone in Florida, they work long hours and are looking for something quick.
"And for this group, it’s a very solid business," Mahecha explained, translating for the I-Team when we met with the whistle-blower. "The owners think 'we can get to any place, to any neighborhood, rent a house and we can do whatever we want,' because they already have a system."
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and a federal agency are aware of this group of operators. So far, one arrest has been made at a brothel.
Axcel Diaz was brought into custody at the first brothel on State Street. He was a wanted sex offender, found on the premises.
Diaz was just sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to child molestation. His involvement with the group is unclear.
A follow up report On the Brothel Next Door is already in the works. Stay tuned.
*starts laughing uncontrollably*
illegals
#ing Rats
The worlds oldest profession goes franchise in Florida, mass boffing marketed as a family affair?
Ron DeSanctus is doing what?
Golly, will someone please go wake up Palm Beach County’s State Attorney, Dave Aronberg? He is a Democrat, so he is likely to be full of excuses for inaction — including that it is all Trump’s fault.
He’s probably a client, just like Elliot Spitzer was.
“customers are construction workers and laborers, working in the States, sending money back to their families in other countries.”
My office in San Francisco had a large number of massage parlors in the neighborhood, the above mentioned clientele was going in all day.
Celebrate diversity.
With the vast influx of illegal aliens, and the breakdown in marriage, I expect to see a LOT more prostitution, with many different business models.
As long as there is a ‘disconnect’ between the sex and the money, in the time between the two, it can easily be disguised as a legal enterprise. That is, only the stupid, gross and greedy people will ever be arrested.
Unlike a Democrat would, he is not collecting his "cut" for looking the other way.
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