Three people have been arrested as part of what authorities described as their ongoing effort to curb prostitution in Forsyth County.
Alma Fabiola Romero, Juan Salvador Martinez-Chavez and Victor Tlatelpa were taken into custody Thursday night following several months of information gathering by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Romero, 20, was charged with one count of prostitution. She was released Friday from the Forsyth County Detention Center on $3,300 bond, a jail spokesman said.
Martinez-Chavez, 24, and Tlatelpa, 34, were each charged with pimping, pandering and keeping a place of prostitution. In addition, Martinez-Chavez was charged with obstruction.
As of Friday night, both men remained in jail. Martinez-Chavez’s bond has been set at $11,555 and Tlatelpa’s at $9,900, the spokeswoman said.
Sheriff’s investigators said the three suspects were running a prostitution operation out of a mobile home at 1690 Doc Bramblett Road.
“We’d rece-ived information on a house of prostitution in the vicinity and had been working on it for about six months, but had trouble locating exactly where it was,” Sheriff’s Lt. Col. Gene Moss said.
Through surveillance, investigators determined that Martinez-Chavez was acting as a kind of “lookout,” watching for potential clients and law enforcement.
“We sent in an undercover operative who was able to gain access to the residence where the individual actually witnessed illegal sexual activities,” Moss said.
He said from their investigation, authorities determined there was “a lot of traffic in and out of the mobile home at all hours.”
Moss said the home appeared to have been set up solely for prostitution.
Investigators have rid the county of six to eight houses of prostitution since January.
“Others have actually gotten out and shut down as a result of our enforcement,” Moss said. “They certainly can lead to other types of criminal activity.”
Alma Fabiola Romero, Juan Salvador Martinez-Chavez and Victor Tlatelpa were taken into custody Thursday night following several months of information gathering by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Romero, 20, was charged with one count of prostitution. She was released Friday from the Forsyth County Detention Center on $3,300 bond, a jail spokesman said.
Martinez-Chavez, 24, and Tlatelpa, 34, were each charged with pimping, pandering and keeping a place of prostitution. In addition, Martinez-Chavez was charged with obstruction.
As of Friday night, both men remained in jail. Martinez-Chavez’s bond has been set at $11,555 and Tlatelpa’s at $9,900, the spokeswoman said.
Sheriff’s investigators said the three suspects were running a prostitution operation out of a mobile home at 1690 Doc Bramblett Road.
“We’d rece-ived information on a house of prostitution in the vicinity and had been working on it for about six months, but had trouble locating exactly where it was,” Sheriff’s Lt. Col. Gene Moss said.
Through surveillance, investigators determined that Martinez-Chavez was acting as a kind of “lookout,” watching for potential clients and law enforcement.
“We sent in an undercover operative who was able to gain access to the residence where the individual actually witnessed illegal sexual activities,” Moss said.
He said from their investigation, authorities determined there was “a lot of traffic in and out of the mobile home at all hours.”
Moss said the home appeared to have been set up solely for prostitution.
Investigators have rid the county of six to eight houses of prostitution since January.
“Others have actually gotten out and shut down as a result of our enforcement,” Moss said. “They certainly can lead to other types of criminal activity.”
