MIAMI.- Katherine Fernández Rundle, Miami-Dade State Attorney, announced an undercover police operation that resulted in the arrest of three men accused of seeking sex with minors on the Internet for money.
According to authorities, the suspects Salazar Venegas, Pérez Rivera and Velásquez responded, each separately, to the online advertisement in which a mother allegedly offered her underage daughters, ages 13 and 15, to have sex with them. . The men, unaware that they were a secret police decoy, negotiated sexual acts in exchange for money.
The county’s state attorney and Manuel Morales, chief of the Miami Police Department, stated that the undercover operation, in which the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service (HSI) were involved, is part of police efforts against the human trafficking within the framework of the next Formula One event to be held in Miami-Dade County, between May 3 and 5.
“As has been well recognized, large sporting events tend to increase human trafficking activity in the area where they are held”
“Those seeking to have sexual contact with our children will face a surprise if they come to Miami-Dade County,” said State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, this Monday, April 22.
“All agencies involved in the fight against human trafficking, the Miami Police Department, members of my Human Trafficking Task Force, the US Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service want traffickers to of people know that if they come to Miami-Dade County, they will end up arrested while carrying out their disgusting activities.”
Pedro Pérez Rivera and Udilber Moisés Velásquez were charged with one count of human trafficking with the aggravating circumstance that they were a minor, one count of traveling to meet a minor to engage in illegal sexual conduct, and one count of using an electronic device to solicit a parent’s consent to have sexual relations with a child. All of these crimes are serious.
For his part, Santiago Salazar Venegas, in addition to the previous crimes, must answer to justice for one count of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of fleeing and eluding, both serious crimes.
All are being held without bail, authorities said.
It is the second human trafficking case published by the state prosecutor’s office during April. Fernández Rundle urged victims of human trafficking to call and report to 305-547-0669 and “they will be rescued and protected.”
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