Virginia Men Accused of Prostitution Ring, Released on Bond

Two Virginia men have been charged in an alleged prostitution ring. Authorities report that women were driven to clients’ doors and replaced with new women weekly.

As reported by NBC Washington, the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office stated the operation was run by Luis Bonilla-Hernandez, 32, out of his home in Sterling. Hernandez has denied involvement. Also arrested was 22-year-old Eliazar Duran-Mota of Herndon, accused of being a driver in the ring.

According to the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg, “There are serious consequences both in court and out of court for prostitution and solicitation.” Both men arrested were charged with two felony counts of receiving money from earnings of a female prostitute and two misdemeanor counts of using vehqicles to promote prostitution. WTOP reported that Duran-Mota was also charged with cruelty to animals after officials witnessed him harming a dog during the investigation. They were released on a $7,500 secure bond from the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center by a Loudoun magistrate.

Court documents stated that Hernandez would pay $300 to essentially “rent” a woman, usually one at a time, from a supplier in Queens, New York. The women would be advertised on a card for automotive services that included the word “treinteras,” promising sexual acts for $30. According to the search warrant as reported in The Washington Post, the services were exclusively offered to men in the Latino community.

The women were allegedly driven to the clients’ homes Monday through Saturday, then they were swapped on Sunday, when a new woman would arrive at a Greyhound bus station in Maryland. An organization in Virginia that fights human trafficking stated that shuttling women in and out of unfamiliar cities makes it more difficult for them to break free.

Investigation on the prostitution ring began when the sheriff’s office received a tip about suspected prostitution occurring out of a home in the 600 block of W. Nettle Tree Road in August 2017. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said their investigation of the suspected prostitution ring lasted almost a year.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit executed search warrants in coordination with the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force at Hernandez’s home in Sterling on July 6, 2018. The Fairfax County Police Department was involved with the search warrant at an additional home on Framingham Court in Herndon.

Court documents described an afternoon when the FBI watched Hernandez drive a woman to a neighborhood and drop her off at four homes, with the average visit lasting around ten minutes. In addition, multiple women were identified in the operation and the sheriff’s office claims to have video surveillance, phone records, and GPS tracking information from one of the vehicles allegedly used in the ring.