LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — Deputies with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said a motel owner in Lake Worth Beach led detectives to the arrests of a man and woman involved in sex trafficking.
Detectives from the Human Exploitation and Trafficking unit responded to Lago Motor Inn on the 700 block of South Dixie Highway on Sunday at 8 a.m. after receiving a call from motel owner Richard Baron.
The owner said he first confronted the occupants of the room after someone claimed they had stolen a phone.
Baron told deputies when he walked into the room, he saw both minor victims sitting on the bed with a man and a condom next to the man.
Baron said he called the police after noticing how young the two girls were and their demeanor.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Maria Barrios Calero, 44, coordinated a "date" between Ricardo Flores, 44, and two minor victims. The two minors were taken to Lago Motor Inn, where Flores paid both minors to have sex, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.
Deputies searched the room and found the condom on top of the bed.
Following an investigation and interviews, deputies arrested Calero and Flores and took them to Palm Beach County Jail.
"I'm not a hero. I'm just doing my job. I try to help somebody always if I can," Baron said. "But in this situation, I think the real hero is the [deputy] who discovered what's really going on over there"
The suspects both face human trafficking charges.
