New details in SWFL human trafficking bust

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla.- Two people accused in a human trafficking ring in Southwest Florida are still on the loose. WINK News first told you about the 15 arrests last week.

Advocates for the Shelter for Abused Women & Children played a big role in taking down the ring. Director Linda Oberhaus says the women forced to have sex for money confided in their workers.

Those advocates, along with law enforcement, helped get the six victims to a safe place and their traffickers were arrested and booked into the Naples Jail Center.

WINK News was in court Saturday as 15 suspects appeared one by one before a Collier County judge.

They’re accused of smuggling at least six women into the country, then forcing them to have sex with men up to 45 times a day.

“Human trafficking really is about exploiting people for their own gain,” said Oberhaus.

In court, WINK News learned there were two children inside of the homes busted. They were supposedly being used to collect money for the victims.

“If a person is willing to exploit another person through sex trafficking for money, the fact that they involved children in collecting the money doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Oberhaus.

She tells WINK News up to 20,000 women and children are trafficked every year in the United States.

“It really takes courageous victims speaking up, and being willing to confide in whether its shelter advocates or members of law enforcement,” said Oberhaus.

On Friday, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said Operation Human Freedom was Collier County’s biggest human trafficking bust.

“I think that will be a wake up call to many of the citizens here in Collier County that refuse to believe or just don’t want to believe that human trafficking really does exist here and it does,” said Oberhaus.

Alba Guzman, one of the suspects still missing, was basically arrested for the same crime three years ago. She was deported but somehow made her way back to Southwest Florida.