MIAMI – The Florida Department of Health has suspended the license of a psychologist arrested by Miami-Dade police in mid-August on child trafficking allegations, according to documents obtained by Local 10 News on Wednesday.
Police arrested Maria Ximena Duarte, 45, of North Miami, on Aug. 18 after they said she groomed a 15-year-old girl she met at a Kendall hotel pool and tried to pressure her into having sex with at least two men.
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Authorities would later arrest two others: Duarte’s boyfriend, 46-year-old Jason Mojica, and 29-year-old Hermes Mejia.
Police said Duarte gained the victim’s trust after meeting her at the pool of the Aloft Miami Dadeland hotel, located at 7600 N. Kendall Drive, and lured her back to her room, having offered her drugs and alcohol.
Authorities said Duarte sent pictures of the girl to Mejia, saying that the victim “was 21 years old and willing to have sex with him.”
They said Duarte then had sex with Mejia in front of the girl, saying she was “teaching her.”
The report states at some point Mojica then went into the hotel room, where he proceeded to force her to perform a sex act.
Police said Duarte, at one point, remarked to Mojica, “She’s 15, can you believe that?” and told the girl, before being sexually assaulted, that she needed to “make Jason feel good.”
In issuing an emergency suspension order Monday, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo wrote that “Dr. Duarte’s actions indicate that she lacks the good judgment and moral character necessary to be a psychologist,” saying she represents “an immediate, serious danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
Court records show that Duarte was found incompetent to stand trial on Sept. 23 and a judge issued an order committing her to the Florida Department of Children and Families. Jail records list her as being in Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Mojica remained at TGK as of Wednesday; court records show Mejia was placed on monitored release.
Read the order: