A $35-an-hour housekeeping gig that sounded like easy money instead turned into what one woman says was a sex-trafficking trap in Lake Worth Beach. The California woman told detectives she was flown to Florida, had her passport and U.S. work permit taken, and was locked inside a secured home where she was forced to see clients before finally breaking her way out.
According to CBS12, court paperwork identifies the woman as being from San Bernardino. She said the suspects paid for her flight on Feb. 17 and arranged a ride to a Lake Worth Beach house, where she met 33-year-old Diana Katherine Chaparro Contreras, who introduced herself as "Karen," 50-year-old Sandra Luz Peralta Aguilar, and a man known only by the nicknames "Negro" or "Moreno."
How investigators say the operation worked
The probable-cause affidavit states the traffickers took the woman's passport and work permit and told her the job "wasn't cleaning houses; it was having sex with clients." She told detectives she "couldn't leave" and was forced to have sex with as many as seven men in a single day.
The document describes doors chained from the outside and bedroom windows covered with plywood. In what sounds like a scene from a low-budget thriller, the woman grabbed a lamp, smashed through the plywood, and climbed out a window to get away.
Investigators also reviewed financial records that, according to the affidavit, show Chaparro received or deposited about $116,373.70 since March 2025. Both Chaparro and Peralta Aguilar were arrested on Friday and booked on human-trafficking and prostitution-related charges, according to CBS12.
Part of a wider crackdown
The case is not happening in a vacuum. Palm Beach County investigators have been steadily uncovering what they say are multiple brothels, with a recent run of arrests tied to a broader human-trafficking crackdown. Deputies have been using surveillance, rental records and utility bills to link suspects and properties.
Earlier work in that same probe led investigators to another home and additional arrests that officials say are tied to related activity across the county, as reported by WPTV.
Legal context
Under Florida law, human trafficking is a felony that covers transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring or maintaining a person for commercial sexual activity or forced labor. Penalties are steeper when victims are moved across state lines or when minors are involved.
The statute treats trafficking as a form of exploitation that can be charged in different degrees depending on the level of coercion, any movement of the victim and the victim's age. It also provides for victim services and restitution in many cases. See the Florida Senate for the full legal definition.
Authorities have not released further information about the unidentified man or about another possible victim referenced in court records, and the investigation remains active. Officials are urging anyone with information to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office human-trafficking unit.
