A Coral Gables hotel manager molested and raped a housekeeper and told her she'd lose her job if she didn't comply, a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade County claims.
According to the lawsuit, William Castro, the manager of the Courtyard by Marriott at 2051 S. LeJeune Road, on numerous occasions sexually harassed and molested the woman, identified as Jane Doe No. 21.
“He’d prey on her for a period of years – threatening her with reporting her to the authorities because of her immigration status, threatening her to lose her job, and ultimately he was able to use these threats to keep her quiet and to control her," her attorney Jeff Herman said.
Marriott hasn't responded to a request from NBC 6 South Florida for comment.
The woman, who had been hired to work at the hotel in 2009, was under the supervision and control of Castro, who "showed a particular and unusual interest in Jane," the lawsuit said.
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Shortly after she started working there, Castro began making sexual advances toward the woman, who was married with two children and made it clear she wasn't interested in Castro, the suit said.
On one occasion, Castro pulled the woman into a room and sexually assaulted her, the suit claims. "I'm the boss, you know what's good for you," he told her, according to the suit.
After that assault, Castro "seized on every opportunity to grab and sexually molest Jane on the premises of the Courtyard by Marriott," the lawsuit said. He also demanded she send him naked photos and told her she'd lose her job if she didn't comply, the suit claims.
The victim said through a translator Wednesday that she felt like she didn't have a life.
She explained how the abuse escalated.
"It started with provocative gestures, provocative salutations, then it moved onto the rooms, it moved onto places around the hotel. And she just had to sometimes stop doing her job to do what he wanted her to do," the translator said.
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One particular time, Castro told the woman to go to another hotel where he had gotten a room, and he raped her inside, the suit claims.
The suit says the assaults and molestations continued until January 2012, when the woman left the hotel. It also claims Castro sexually harassed and molested numerous female housekeepers there.
According to the suit, the hotel should have known Castro was "unfit, dangerous and posed a substantial risk of sexual misconduct to housekeeping staff working under his supervision and control."
The woman has suffered severe and permanent psychological, emotional and physical injuries, shame, humiliation and the inability to lead a normal life, the suit said.
