Third arrest made in Miami-Dade trafficking and rape of 15-year-old girl, records show
.jpg "Miami-Dade police made a third arrest in the alleged trafficking and rape of a 15-year-old girl at a hotel by a former psychologist and two men. (Left to Right: Hermes Mejia, Maria Ximena Duarte and Jason Mojica)")
A third person was apprehended Wednesday for his alleged role in the trafficking and rape of a 15-year-old girl in a Miami-Dade hotel this month, records show.
Hermes Mejia, 29, is facing charges of lewd and lascivious battery and lewd and lascivious exhibition on a child. He joins Jason Mojica, 46, and Maria Ximena Duarte, 45, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Police cuffed Duarte, a mental-health counselor and former psychologist, on Sunday and charged her with human trafficking, lewd and lascivious exhibition on a child, lewd and lascivious battery and interference with child custody. Mojica was already in jail in two unrelated cases and had charges added: sexual battery, lewd and lascivious battery or sexual activity and interference with child custody.
On August 13, Miami-Dade police said the 15-year-old was walking her dog near a pool at the Alot Hotel, 7600 SW 88th St., when Duarte walked up to her. She befriended the girl by telling her she was a psychologist, an arrest report read.
According to the report:
The child became comfortable with Duarte, who would later offer marijuana and bring alcohol to the girl. She refused.
Duarte coaxed the girl to come to her hotel room later that night after she took her dog back home. The 15-year-old stayed the night with her. The girl would go back and forth between her home and the hotel several times.
During one of those visits, Duarte took pictures of her and told her there was a man named “Pablo” whom she wanted her to have sex with, the report read. The 15-year-old told her she refused to do that.
Police detectives would learn “Pablo” was Mejia.
Despite her refusal, Mejia came to the room and raped her. During the act, Duarte told her she was “teaching her.”
The next day, Mojica, who is Duarte’s boyfriend, came to the hotel room. The 15-year-old tried to leave when Duarte went to leave her alone with Mojica, but Duarte pushed her back in and told her to make him “feel good.”
Mojica raped her, the report read. After, she hid in the bathroom, occasionally checking to see if he had gone. Each time she came out, Mojica would ask to have sex with her again.
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