MIAMI – A man was at the Metrowest Detention Center on Friday accused of human trafficking in Miami-Dade County after police officers found a woman with black eyes, broken blood vessels in both eyes, a broken nose, and bruising all over her body.
Detectives later learned that Darrow Fowler had not only been beating the 25-year-old victim for days at a hotel in Miami Beach, but he had also been exploiting her for about 7 years after meeting her at a strip club where she worked in Nevada, according to a police report.
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Through tears, the blond woman told police officers that Fowler, 44, her off-and-on boyfriend of seven years, had punched and kicked her, stomped on her back, pulled her hair, and choked her to the point of losing consciousness, according to the arrest report.
“The majority of this beating was in the bathroom, where he said, ‘No one would hear her yelling.’ At one point, someone came to the room to ask if everything was OK,” a police officer wrote in the report.
The victim said anything could set off Fowler who controlled her finances, and through the years, had always been remorseful, apologetic, and sweet after the beatings, according to the report.
The police officers who met the victim on Dec. 30, at the Waterside Hotel, at 7310 Harding Avenue, in Miami Beach, suspected the case was not just domestic violence, and an investigation ensued.
The detective who looked into the case found online advertisements for prostitution with the victim, and after meeting her she said he would take her earnings at the end of the day, records show.
The victim also said that she had tried to get away from Fowler, but he would always end up bribing her drug-addicted mother with narcotics to find out where she was, records show.
“During their time together the only time the subject worked was when it was mandated by the courts,” an officer wrote adding, “She said that he never gave her orders to go to work, but she was doing it and giving him the earnings in hopes it would make him happy. She explained this was because if he was happy, he wouldn’t be as physically abusive.”
After police officers arrested Fowler on Dec. 31 at the hotel, he told them that the victim was injured during a robbery at a strip club where she worked and she was a drug addict who had stolen his dog to sell it for narcotics, according to the arrest report.
Miami-Dade County prosecutors filed a case against Fowler on Jan. 1. He is facing charges of human trafficking, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and petit theft.
Correctional officers have been holding Fowler without bond since Dec. 31. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carlos Lopez is presiding over the case. His arraignment is set for Jan. 16.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.