A Miami Beach yacht charter operator is behind bars facing allegations of trafficking and sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl. The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Kutay Satiroglu, was arrested after police responded to a 911 call from the girl's mother, alleging her daughter was being held against her will and abused on a yacht located in the 5600 block of Pine Tree Drive, Local 10 News reported.
Upon the authorities' arrival, Satiroglu claimed that the girl “was intoxicated and he called her mother to come pick her up.” However, once she was alone with officers, the teen disclosed that she had been working for Satiroglu's yacht charter service for around two months and was involved in a "boyfriend/girlfriend relationship" with him. The distressing situation began to further unravel as she confessed to being trafficked, forced to "engage in sexual relationships with his friends in exchange for money”—prices ranging from $200 to $800 per meeting, as per the Local 10 News report.
The victim detailed that Satiroglu provided her with drugs during these sexual encounters and at parties. Additionally, he would become physically abusive, often resorting to violence "whenever he would get into a bad mood," the teen told the police, admitting compliance out of a misguided sense of love and a desire to make him happy. According to her, other women were also onboard the yacht, trafficked for the purposes of Satiroglu's charter operations.
WSVN further detailed the unfolding investigation, with detectives from the Human Trafficking and Special Victims units interviewing the girl before Satiroglu was arrested. The teen's claims of violent abuse are consistent across reports, with her stating that Satiroglu demanded she bring other girls to the yacht and would beat her if she failed to meet his requests or refused his demands.
The accused remained silent during his arrest, invoking his right to an attorney. He is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, with charges that include human trafficking of a victim under 18, lewd and lascivious battery on a child, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to Local 10 News. Bond details for Satiroglu have yet to be set.
