ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Agents with the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation said a year-and-a half-long investigation has put an end to a large human trafficking ring in Orange and Seminole counties.
Many women were forced into the sex trade by Christian Pena Fernandez and Rachel Gonzalez, agents said.
The couple is behind bars, facing racketeering, kidnapping and prostitution charges.
MBI agents, acting on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, first met Fernandez in January when they said he pimped out women while his toddler was in the car.
“We're certainly concerned about the welfare of this child. What else is he being exposed to? There's certain danger, physical danger, not to mention the environment this child is in,” said MBI agent Ron Stucker.
The tipster believed a woman on Backpage might have been a minor, but even though she wasn’t, the tip opened the investigation.
Agents said Fernandez worked with Gonzalez to mentally manipulate between 20 and 25 women.
“The women have been threatened with bodily harm, one was threatened with rape, or they have been physically abused or their money taken so that they could not leave,” said Stucker.
Some of them were likely lured in with the promise of work.
“Pena (Fernandez) would advertise as having an event planning business to draw women in,” said Stucker.
The couple lived in a gated apartment complex in Altamonte Springs. The women were trafficked in Orange County.
Agents believe the couple had their illegal business for more than two years.
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“He had no other legitimate job we can identify. He was living off the proceeds of prostitution when he would take these women out, and funding his drug habit by taking these women out to prostitute themselves,” said Stucker.
Agents have identified some of the women, but not all of them, because some are often afraid to come forward.
The pair remains in the Orange County Jail.