(Jamaica Gleaner) Hermelinda Parker, the former proprietor of the Latin Movement Nightclub at Dunrobin Plaza, St Andrew, who is charged with trafficking in persons appeared in the Home Circuit Court yesterday.
She was remanded to return on November 18.
She has been charged jointly with her husband, Anthony Parker, and her daughter, Liz Scantleburry.
Parker was held on September 1 shortly after she returned from The Bahamas.
It is alleged that after the police received a report in September last year, a sting operation was carried out at the club and a number of people were arrested.
Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Lisa Palmer Hamilton told the court that Hermelinda was facing about five charges of trafficking in persons. She said young girls were recruited from abroad and forced to work at the club.
Palmer Hamilton said in one case a 16-year-old minor was recruited from Guyana under the guise that she was spending the summer vacation in Jamaica.
She was forced to work at the club doing dancing and sexual acts after Hermelinda allegedly told her that she had to work to pay for her living expenses and plane ticket. She said two women saw the girl looking very distraught and took her to a police station where a report was made.
Immigration officer charged
Palmer Hamilton said the girl was told that two immigration officers would assist her when she landed at the airport in May last year.
Justice Lennox Campbell asked whether any immigration officers had been charged in connection with the matter.
Palmer Hamilton said an immigration officer was found in possession of passports belonging to some of the complainants in the case and he has been arrested and charged.
The other accused in the case will have their case mentioned on December 14.
