FLORIDA
Spanish fugitive Miguel A. Hernandez, of Miami Beach, Florida, plead guilty today to charges arising from the prostitution of multiple women, including foreign nationals and Miami-area residents, for his financial gain.
Hernandez, 50, plead guilty to four counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to promote an unlawful activity and four counts of importing and attempting to import an alien for prostitution purposes.
According to court documents, Hernandez began operating a highly profitable prostitution enterprise known as “International Playmates” from a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2010.
Hernandez and others, including his brother and co-defendant, Eduardo Hernandez, recruited many of the women who worked for him from other countries, including Spain, Colombia, Venezuela and other Central and Latin American countries.
To facilitate the operation, Hernandez and his associates reserved and paid for plane tickets for foreign nationals to enter the United States, completed immigration paperwork, coached foreign nationals on what to say to customs officials when entering the United States and picked foreign nationals up at the airport.
Hernandez openly advertised his business on the Internet and deposited the cash proceeds into multiple bank accounts.
Hernandez engaged numerous individuals, including overseas recruiters to identify more women; drivers to transport women to dates with prostitution clients; a website technician to advertise the enterprise’s services; various female associates to help manage the enterprise; and his brother and co-defendant, Eduardo Hernandez to aid in operation of the scheme.
Eduardo Hernandez previously plead guilty for his role in the enterprise on May 3, 2016.
Miguel Hernandez had previously been convicted and sentenced to six years’ confinement in Spain for immigration fraud offenses in violation of Spanish law, but had fled to the United States before serving his sentence.
According to documents, Hernandez used physical force on at least two occasions against two different women, both Spanish nationals, and prostituted at least three minors for his profit.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to supporting the ACTeam Initiative, a multi-agency approach aimed at building human trafficking enforcement and investigate efforts, in order to combat the illicit enterprises and prosecute the traffickers,” said U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida.
“At a sentencing hearing scheduled for July 13 ,Hernandez faces up to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million.