Women plead guilty to transporting prostitutes
Silver Spring, Hyattsville residents drove them from New York and New Jersey for work in Maryland brothels
A Silver Spring woman and a Hyattsville woman pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to transport at least 100 women from New York and New Jersey to Maryland to employ them as prostitutes, according to a news release from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.
According to their plea agreements, each week from September 2003 to November 2005, Aida Pereira, 35, also known as "Paty," and Iris Y. Martinez-Solarzano, 35, of Hyattsville picked the women up early Monday mornings at pre-arranged locations in New York and New Jersey and dropped them off in Maryland, where the women worked as prostitutes for a week at a time.
Pereira allegedly coordinated the rental of apartments in Maryland, including in Langley Park and other locations in Prince George's County, where the prostitutes worked. A doorman collected money from customers and provided security for the prostitutes, according to the plea agreement.
The women ran at least five brothels in Maryland, according to the news release.
According to their plea agreements, Martinez-Solarzano, Pereira and several other conspirators provided the prostitutes with food and supplies for a set weekly fee.
They allegedly split half of what each prostitute earned every week, according to the plea agreement.
The conspirators would drive the women back to New York and New Jersey on Sunday evenings, usually in a white passenger van, and then return to Maryland the next day with a new group of prostitutes, according to the plea agreement.
Pereira said in her plea agreement that she was the primary contact person for the women and would speak with them by cell phone at least a week prior to their travel to Maryland.
She allegedly had a list of more than 100 women she spoke with regularly to work in Maryland, according to the plea agreement.
Pereira and Martinez-Solarzano each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Martinez-Solarzano is set to be sentenced April 30 in U.S. District Court and Pereira is set to be sentenced May 30 in U.S. District Court.
Co-conspirator Jose Hugo Chacon Roque, 45, of Hyattsville pleaded guilty to the same charge and is scheduled to be sentenced May 7 in U.S. District Court, according to the news release.