DENVER , COLORADO – United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn announced federal prison sentences for a couple that operated an interstate prostitution ring out of the Denver Tech Center. Defendant Teresita Rodriguez, 40, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. Co-defendant Jeramy Caron, 44, also of Fort Collins, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Defendants Rodriguez and Caron were sentenced as a result of their guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to facilitate prostitution, two counts of facilitating prostitution, and three counts of transporting an individual to engage in prostitution. Defendant Caron also pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering. Both defendants’ sentences will be followed by five-year terms of supervised release. Caron was ordered to pay an assessment to a victims’ fund of $15,000. Both defendants are also forfeiting more than $390,000 in funds, two vehicles, 20 watches, and are subject to a money judgment in the amount of $700,000, because the defendants stipulated that their conspiracy earned at least $700,000.
According to facts contained in plea agreements, Rodriguez and Caron operated a prostitution ring in the Denver Tech Center from at least June 25, 2018, to March 10, 2020, at which time the enterprise was dismantled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and task force officers. The enterprise recruited adult women from states such as Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, and Utah to travel to Denver in order to provide high-end escort services that included commercial sex acts. Rodriguez and Caron paid to advertise the escort services online with provocative photographs of the women. Rodriguez and Caron then purchased airline tickets for women to visit for week-long stays, rented hotel rooms, and picked up cash proceeds following the sexual encounters. The advertising and travel costs were subtracted from the women’s profits, and Rodriguez and Caron kept half of the proceeds.
When messaging with buyers, Rodriguez and Caron typically pretended to be the prostitute because they did not want customers to understand that they were dealing with an agency and wanted customers to believe instead that the prostitutes were independent. In reality, Rodriguez and Caron kept an appointment book and arranged for the women to perform an average of approximately eight commercial sex acts per day.
“This prostitution ring operated for years, victimizing dozens of women,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn. “With some good investigative and legal work, we were able to stop it. Protecting vulnerable people and holding predators accountable are core parts of our mission and we are pleased that these two are headed to prison for their crimes.”
“The FBI and our law enforcement partners have a great responsibility to protect our vulnerable community members from the abhorrent behaviors of human traffickers such as Teresita Rodriguez and Jeremy Caron,” said Denver FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider. “We are grateful for our collaborative partnerships with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this case as we continue our work to fight human trafficking.”
“The sentencing of Jeramy Caron and Teresita Rodriguez for their roles in this criminal enterprise will make our community a safer place,” said Andy Tsui, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Denver Field Office. “The special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to disrupt these criminal organizations and deprive them of their ill-gotten gains. We will be relentless in our mission to dismantle these organizations and bring the criminals to justice.”
Chief United States District Judge Philip Brimmer announced the sentence for Caron on January 14, 2021, and for Rodriguez on February 5, 2021.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and IRS-CI, with assistance from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Emily Treaster and Patricia Davies handled the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Young handled the forfeiture.
Case number: 20-cr-000084