The boss of a prostitution ring pleaded guilty to regularly hauling vanloads of women into Prince George’s County to work at low-dollar brothels.
Aida Pereira, 35, of Silver Spring, and a conspirator, Iris Y. Martinez-Solarzano, 35, of Hyattsville, admitted to busing in prostitutes from New York and New Jersey, splitting their earnings, then driving the women back home.
Pereira and Martinez-Solarzano face up to five years in prison. A co-conspirator, Jose Hugo Chacon Roque, 45, of Hyattsville, pleaded guilty last month to the same charge.
Pereira admitted in court Friday that she headed up the sex business. She called the girls and rented the apartments for prostitution. Pereira and her conspirators provided the women with food and supplies, such as condoms and lubricants, for a weekly fee. Martinez-Solarzano assisted in the scheme, and one of the vans used to haul the prostitutes was registered in her name.
The sex peddlers operated at least five brothels in Maryland, including at apartments in Langley Park.
This is how the crew worked, according to charging documents:
A doorman collected the money from customers, about $25 for 15 minutes, and provided protection for the prostitutes.
After paying the doorman, the johns were given a marker — such as a poker chip, playing card or glass bead — to give to the girl as proof of payment for sex.
At the end of the week, on Sundays, the prostitute would cash in her markers. Half would go to the women, half to the house.
The women were driven back home Sunday night, and the crew would pick up a new batch the next day.
But the operation unraveled in 2005, after New Jersey state troopers stopped a white passenger van driven by Pereira and carrying 14 women.
Federal agents raided Pereira’s Silver Spring apartment, where they found the lists of prostitutes, a calendar showing the pickups and drop-offs, ledgers detailing business expenses, and business cards used to advertise the prostitution business.
Roque fled the area but was captured in Florida during a traffic stop in July 2008.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7. Pereira is slated for May 30 and Martinez-Solarzano for April 30.
