Thread: Brothel suspect charged with racketeering

Brothel suspect charged with racketeering

By Rebecca Panoff (Contact)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

FORT PIERCE — A man who was allegedly the manager and doorman at a brothel that could be linked to others around the state was arrested Thursday on charges of racketeering according to an arrest affidavit obtained Monday.

Alfredo Mata, 50, was arrested as part of an investigation by Fort Pierce police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Martin County Sheriff's Office that had been going on since July 2006, according to a complaint affidavit. Law enforcement officials believe the Fort Pierce brothel is part of a statewide prostitution ring, said Fort Pierce police spokeswoman Audria Moore.

Mata reportedly worked at the brothel, in the 700 block of South 22nd Street, dealing directly with clients and prostitutes, taking the clients' money and taking them to "pick a girl" and giving the prostitutes their cut of the cash.

The brothel was allegedly run and operated by two women and a man, but Mata was in charge of the day-to-day operations. Police officials said there are at least five suspects in the case.

According to the affidavit, the brothel was open seven days a week with regular operating hours, and on Sundays, the prostitutes would leave the house to be replaced by a group of new women by opening hours Monday. Mata's job allegedly included taking $25 from a client when they entered the establishment and handing them a "ticket," then showing the client the available prostitutes.

After the client picked a prostitute, the client would give the prostitute the "ticket" in exchange for a condom and at the end of the night the prostitutes turned in their "tickets" to Mata in exchange for $12 each ticket, according to the affidavit.

According to Fort Pierce Police, the women would cycle through other brothels in the state.

Mata, who reportedly made $300 a week working in the brothel, stopped working there in December after a disagreement over money with the three operators of the establishment and had expressed a desire to open his own brothel to an informant, according to the complaint affidavit.

The brothel's three operators reportedly kept a date book with women's names, phone numbers, nationalities and a calendar with two to three women's names listed out weekly for several months, according to the affidavit. They also were observed dropping off supplies to the house and they were present on the days when women were picked up to be moved to another house and days when new women were dropped off.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/sep/11/ ... eteering2/

$25.00??