MIAMI — During a news conference on Tuesday, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released details about the case of a mother and her 2-year-old daughter who were rescued from human traffickers on Saturday in Miami Springs.
Fernandez Rundle said the 20-year-old mother met Darrell “Heffe” Robertson in Dallas, Texas, and they were in a romantic relationship before he forced her into prostitution and used drugs and violence to control her for about eight months.
Fernandez Rundle showed reporters a map to say Robertson had exploited the victim in Gavelston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New Jersey; and New York before Miami Springs.
“All that the money that she suffered to obtain was provided and given through Robertson,” Fernandez Rundle said.
The case in Miami Springs and the investigation that followed, Fernandez Rundle said, are an example of the partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement against human trafficking.
“We have ongoing efforts for this case,” Jose Figueredo, the Homeland Security Investigations Miami acting special agent in charge, said during the news conference.
Robertson bought the victim a plane ticket so she could travel to Miami with her daughter about a week ago and meet with him and Eushuun “Nu Nu” Thomas, who had driven to Miami-Dade, according to Fernandez Rundle.
“Upon arriving, the victim was taken to an area known ... as The Blade. It’s on Northwest 27 Avenue, and again ordered the victim to meet the quota of $1,000 a day, and she did that,” Fernandez Rundle.
Robertson allegedly took the victim’s 2-year-old daughter to a daycare and gave the victim drugs, including Adderall, a prescription stimulant medication, to keep her awake, according to Fernandez Rundle.
After Robertson beat her up, the victim called 911 on Saturday, and Miami Springs police officers responded to a room where she was staying with her daughter at the Parkway Inn Airport Motel, at 777 Curtiss Parkway.
“The Miami Springs patrol officer, who is very experienced in this area, responded, and he called our human trafficking task force,” Fernandez Rundle said.
Police officers took the victim to a five-story building that is home to Miami-Dade County’s human trafficking center, where she met with victim advocates, according to Fernandez Rundle.
“It’s a place where victims can feel safe. They decompress because often times they are drugged out, which is exactly what their exploiters want,” Fernandez Rundle said, adding that the victim advocate also helps to provide access to shelter and medical attention.
The victim had an infected tattoo of a red platform peep-toe high-heel shoe, which Thomas also had, according to the arrest report. Fernandez Rundle referred to the tattoos as Robertson’s “branding.”
Miami Springs police officers arrested Thomas, 22, at the Parkway Inn Airport Motel, and arrested Robertson, 24, in Miami, where he was staying in an Airbnb, according to Fernandez Rundle.
“We have 22 hotels, and a lot of our calls for service are at these hotels,” Miami Springs Chief Matthew Castillo said during the news conference.
Fernandez Rundle also talked about recent cases in Miami Beach and Coral Gables.
MIAMI BEACH
After a 17-year-old girl called her mother to report that she was held against her will and was being trafficked in Miami Beach, police officers arrested Kutay Satiroglu, who had allegedly employed the girl as a yacht steward, records show.
“It started as a romance,” Fernandez Rundle said about the teen’s relationship with Satiroglu, a yacht charter operator who was born in Turkey.
CORAL GABLES
Fernandez Rundle and Coral Gables Chief Edward Hudak also talked about Operation Sanctuary Shield, an ongoing human trafficking investigation that resulted in arrests on Nov. 20.
“We were able to make, I think it was six arrests,” Fernandez Rundle said, adding four were suspects who were “new arrivals” from Venezuela.
According to arrest reports, undercover police officers used the Escort Alligator site to uncover prostitution at the ChateauBleau Hotel at 1111 Ponce de Leon Boulevard.
Police officers arrested Franyelin Toledo and Jeanfrank Canizalez, both born in Venezuela, on Nov. 20 at the hotel, records show. Police officers found a minor at the home where Toledo and Canizalez were living in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, records show.
Toledo, 25, faced charges of child neglect and engaging in prostitution, and Canizalez, 32, faced charges of child neglect, deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution, and directing another to a place of prostitution, records show.
Fernandez Rundle said the investigation in Coral Gables also involved HSI agents who had access to technology and data that police officers didn’t.
Fernandez Rundle asked anyone with information about human trafficking in Miami-Dade County to call the task force hotline, which works 24 hours a day and 7 days a week at 305-349-7867.
Watch a video of Fernandez Rundle talking about the Miami Springs case
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- Miami Beach yacht charter operator trafficked, sexually abused 17-year-old girl, police say
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