Plea deal in human-trafficking case spares Palm Beach County man, woman from prison time

A woman told investigators she applied for what she thought was a babysitting job. It turned out to be prostitution, and that she could never leave.

Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH — For nearly six months starting in the spring of 2023, Lucio Gonzalez and Rosa Molina Quijada trafficked a woman on a nightly basis, selling her into prostitution at a home in Palm Springs, authorities said.

Molina Quijada forced the woman into sex work under the threat of a gun, Assistant State Attorney Alexa Ruggiero told Circuit Judge Howard Coates during a court hearing on Wednesday, July 17. During the hearing, both defendants entered plea agreements that will allow them to avoid time in state prison.

Molina Quijada, 40, pleaded guilty to felony counts of human trafficking and deriving proceeds from prostitution and a misdemeanor count of maintaining a house of prostitution.

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Gonzalez, 44, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of deriving proceeds from prostitution and possession of cocaine, and a misdemeanor count of maintaining a house of prostitution.

Both will serve time in the Palm Beach County Jail instead. Coates sentenced Molina Quijada to 364 days with credit for 244 already served. Gonzalez was sentenced to 244 days with credit for time served.

Ruggiero said that the victim, who was only identified by initials, agreed with the plea arrangement. The judge noted that Molina Quijada faced up to three years and nearly three months in prison under the state sentencing guidelines.

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Victim told prosecutors she and others were forced to sell sex, drugs

Under state and federal law, human trafficking is the use of fraud, force or coercion to exploit another person for sex, labor or domestic servitude.

Ruggiero told the court that the exploitation of the victim began in May 2023 and lasted through the end of October, just weeks before Palm Springs police arrested Molina Quijada and Gonzalez.

Officers responded to an address associated with the pair after a caller reported seeing a female dressed in only underwear being dragged back into a home after attempting to run away.

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Officers located the woman, who said she and others were being forced into prostitution with multiple men. The woman, whose age was not disclosed, told investigators she had moved to South Florida from New York with a relative a few months earlier and had applied for what she thought would be a babysitting job.

The woman said she was taken to a home and told she was not allowed to leave.

The woman said she and others were paid based on the number of customers with whom they had sex and also were given small amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine to sell to customers at an additional cost. One man told investigators the residence was known to be a brothel and said he was paid to wash cars in the front yard as a cover for the business.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.