MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Seven people were arrested in the last week on human trafficking charges in Miami-Dade County, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
The arrests were made with the help of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office Human Trafficking Task Force, Miami Beach police, Miami police and Miami-Dade police.
A 16-year-old girl and a young mother with a baby were among the victims who were rescued during the various operations, authorities said.
The latest suspects were arrested Wednesday in Miami Beach.
According to an arrest report, Alexander Brown, 33, and Jakeara Peak, 20, brought the 16-year-old girl to South Florida from Vero Beach.
Police said Brown took the girl to the hotel room he was staying in with Peak and told Peak to train the girl into how to be a prostitute and show her the way around Miami Beach.
When detectives went to the hotel room, the victim opened the door completely nude, the report said.
Police said the victim was speaking to a sergeant when Brown, who was also nude, walked up behind the girl.
In a statement to police, the girl said Brown provided her with marijuana and the two would smoke together, the report said.
Brown and Peak were arrested on charges of human trafficking, inference with the custody of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Brown also faces a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a child.
Authorities said Brown refused to give a statement to detectives.
Others who were recently arrested on human trafficking charges include Juan Carlos Carret, Juan "Nica" Aguilara, Lee Dal Love Jr., Michael Anthony Miller and Kudirka Tierney Cureton.
Cureton, 44, was arrested March 2 after he allegedly beat a woman who was tricked into traveling to Florida from North Carolina by two women who promised the victim a Disney vacation for her and her baby.
According to an arrest report, the women told the victim once they got to Orlando that it was too late for them to stay in the area and they need to drive to Miami.
Police said the women were prostitutes in Miami Beach and were staying at a hotel with their 11-year-old sister, the victim and the victim's baby.
The women told the victim they would all need to prostitute themselves to pay for the hotel room, but the victim refused, police said.
When the two women came back from selling themselves on the street, they told the victim she needed to pack up because they had to leave.
Cureton then knocked on the door and began yelling and beating the victim once he got inside, police said.
Authorities said Cureton was angered that the victim refused to prostitute herself. The victim said she stopped fighting back as Cureton continued to beat her because she did not want her baby or the 11-year-old to get harmed.
Someone called 911 after hearing the woman's screams. Police said she suffered various bruises throughout her body and two black eyes.
Cureton was arrested March 2 at the International Inn Hotel in Miami Beach.