LEE COUNTY —
A Lee husband and wife who pimped women through online listings, paid them in drugs and then refused to let them leave pleaded to a human trafficking charge in federal court.
Derrick Ned, 33, and Naomi Vasquez, 32, of Lee County, will likely serve less than the 20-year maximum sentence for a charge of forced labor. In exchange for the pair’s guilty pleas, federal prosecutors dropped three other counts in the indictment and are requesting a downward sentencing departure.
The pair was arrested by deputies in January after an undercover investigation by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, and they were later charged by federal prosecutors. The state has since dropped charges against Ned, but Vasquez’s case remains open. She is charged with three counts each of recruiting prostitutes, forcing prostitution and living off the earnings of prostitutes, as well as two first-degree felony charges of racketeering and conspiracy to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
In arrest affidavits, Lee County detective Michael Zaleski detailed an organization called “My Goddess Companion,” in which Ned recruited women for prostitution, refused to pay them and supplied them instead with drugs. When the women tried to leave, they were told they’d have to repay the costs of the drugs, and they were threatened, Zaleski wrote.
Three of the women, ages 20, 25 and 27, stated that they averaged six sexual acts a day and received $150 to $300 for each act, none of which they were allowed to keep. Ned told the women the money was for rent and transportation, according to the affidavit.
Vasquez acted as the go-between for each client, the women said, and she posted the company’s Internet listings. According to Zaleski, one of the women said Vasquez was more violent than Ned, beating the girls, threatening them and waking them throughout the night to service clients.
As many as 13 other women had been trafficked by Ned, one of the witnesses told Zaleski.
Sentencing for Ned and Vasquez will be set at a future date. The charge for each carries a maximum 20 years in prison, a fine up to $250,000 and supervised release of no more than five years.
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