QCOSTARICA – A woman, surnamed Castillo Castro, allegedly charged male clients ¢35,000 for having sex with young women between 18 and 24 years old and who, in addition, had to dress provocatively for them.
The detention was made Monday afternoon during a raid on a house used as a ‘center for massages” in the upper scale area of Rohrmoser, in San Jose.
Based on the statements made by the victims, the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants said that it will request precautionary measures against the suspect at the hearing that has not yet taken place.
According to the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), the investigation began last May, when they received confidential reports that indicated that women were being sexually exploited.
When conducting the investigation, the agents found that the house was working as a supposed spa, but, indoors, the activity that was given went beyond the advertised massages.
The suspect, the OIJ continued, kept an unknown number of girls providing sexual services, for which she charged clients ¢35,000, the girls were paid ¢10,000 for each encounter.
But what was the offense?
The Judicial Police detailed that, through different social networks, the suspect advertised she needed a receptionist for her spa.
However, when the young women arrived for an interview, they found out the truth: Castillo supposedly told them that they would be offering customers sexual services.
In addition, she told them that as part of their work they should wear ‘suggestive’ outfits and that their work hours would involve long hours.
Once the investigators were able to establish the alleged activity, they proceeded with the police search of both the massage parlor and the suspect’s house, located in Hatillo 8, south of San José.
During the raid, agents found two women on the premises, the OIJ detailed. They seized, among other things, receipts, cash (both dollars and colones) and resumes of potential victims.
The case remains under investigation.
While prostitution (sex for pay) is not illegal in Costa Rica, proxenetismo (procuring or pimping) or holding another person in sexual servitude, is and carries a maximum prison term of two to five years. The penalties are much are higher if minors are involved.
