Indictment: 3 imported Chilean women to work as prostitutes
Holon residents face charges of human trafficking, prostitution procurement; men paid to bring indigent Chilean women to Israel.
By RON FRIEDMANRape victim(photo credit: Judy Siegel-Itzkovich)
Three Holon residents were indicted on Sunday on charges of human trafficking and prostitution procurement. The three, a married couple and one other man, were accused of importing women from Chile to work as prostitutes in the sex trade.According to the indictment, Roberto and Lucia Hertzokan and Nissim Talmud paid an acquaintance living in Chile $500 per head to arrange for three indigent Chilean women to come to Israel to work as prostitutes.RELATED:Police: 19-year-old tourist forced into prostitutionGov’t struggles with jump in teen prostitutionAccording to the indictment, the women were asked to send semi-nude photos of themselves to the accused, so that they could determine if they were suitable to work in the sex trade. Having approved them based on the photos, the accused paid for the women’s flight tickets and met them at the airport.On the way from the airport to the Tel Aviv hotel where the accused had arranged for the women to stay, they explained that the women would charge between NIS 600-700 for an hour of sexual service, and that the earnings would be split half and half between the women and the accused. The women were also told that they would have to pay the accused NIS 1,500 for half of the expenses of the flight and the hotel room.The accused provided the women with mobile phones and contraceptives and placed advertisements in local sex trade publications and websites.According to the indictment, the women worked as prostitutes for two days out of their Tel Aviv hotel room. On the second day, the police entered their apartment searching from illicit drugs and though they found none, the raid raised suspicions that the women were in Israel to work as prostitutes.Following the police search, the accused transferred the women to the Hertzokan’s Holon apartment, where they were found a day later and taken into custody.On Sunday, the accused were brought before the court and the police requested that they be remanded in the interest of public safety and so the police could continue the investigation without obstruction. The police presented video footage of the accused entering the hotel with the women and their telephone numbers listed as contact people in the advertisements as grounds for their arrest.The three were also indicted of the same charges for committing similar acts in August 2010.
