What to Know
- Raoul Sheridan Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday night and charged with several counts, including human trafficking.
- Both women said they had met Rodriguez at a party in their hometown of Richmond, VA and agreed to come with him to Miami.
- Once they arrived on Sunday, the women said he provided them with one meal a day and would direct different men to the room.
Police in Miami Beach arrested a man they said brought two women with him from Virginia and forced them into prostitution inside a hotel.
Raoul Sheridan Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday night and charged with several counts, including human trafficking and aiding or abetting to prostitution.
According to an arrest report, undercover officers responded to an ad on a website featuring two women. After arriving at the Croydon Hotel on Collins Avenue, the officer was told to go to a specific room where a woman answered the door.
After describing what she would do for the agreed money amount, officers arrested the woman as well as another woman who had been hiding in the closet with a loaded gun. Both women said they had met Rodriguez at a party in their hometown of Richmond, VA and agreed to come with him to Miami, paying for their flights.
Once they arrived on Sunday, the women said he provided them with one meal a day and would direct different men to the room for alleged sexual activity. Their description of Rodriguez fit one that an officer had of a man he had seen in the lobby of the hotel before the encounter.
Hotel management confirmed Rodriguez had rented a room through Wednesday, and officers caught up with him and another man near the hotel. The second man said Rodriguez had thrown a backpack in his car, one that matched the one officers saw in the hotel.
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Police searched the backpack and found a loaded handgun similar to one described by the women. Rodriguez made no statement to police and was booked into jail.
In bond court Wednesday, Rodriguez's public defender insisted that the women were not forced into prostitution or held against their will.
A judge gave Rodriguez a stay away order from the two alleged victims and set his bond at $8,500.
For more information on human trafficking, visit PolarisProject.org or call their toll free hotline at 888-373-7888.
