Woman charged in 'surrogate mom' sex trafficking case
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida woman has been indicted on charges that she engaged in sex trafficking by smuggling a 26-year-old Mexican woman into the United States and then subjecting her to years of involuntary labor — at times including forced sex.
Esthela M. Clark, 46, of Jacksonville, Fla., is charged with 12 counts related to alien smuggling, labor trafficking and sex trafficking offenses, according to a 41-page federal indictment released by the Justice Department on Wednesday.
Clark is accused of initially luring the victim, who does not speak fluent English, into her service with promises of legitimate work and medical care as a surrogate mother in which she could make thousands of dollars.
Instead, Clark smuggled the victim across the border and subjected her to a life of manual labor and inhumane conditions in which the victim endured repeated non-medical insemination procedures, threats, physical abuse, and at times sex with complete strangers, over the course of two years, according to court documents.
Neighbors did not know of the victim's circumstances.
"The 26-year-old woman used to be outside all the time washing the car. I never known that she was in any kind of trouble," said Tony Gilmore. "Never knew because she never gave off any kind of aura that she was in any trouble."
After a friend introduced them, Clark arranged for the victim to be smuggled from Coahuila, Mexico, into San Antonio before her eventual arrival in Jacksonville in December 2012, the indictment states. The victim stayed at Clark's one-bedroom apartment in Jacksonville.
It was there that court papers suggest the victim lived with Clark along with Clark's boyfriend and son. Clark and her boyfriend slept in the bedroom while Clark's son slept on a couch in the living room. The victim slept on the dining room floor.
The victim's "work" began about a week after her arrival, she told investigators. But instead of the medically supervised procedures she had been promised, she was instructed to lie down on the same dining room floor she slept on while Clark's boyfriend's semen was injected inside her with a household syringe, sometimes as many as four times a day, the indictment alleges. Clark told her to stay in that position for 20 minutes so "it would take," the victim said.
When the "procedures" weren't successful, Clark blamed the victim, saying she was "too fat," according to court documents. Afterward, Clark allegedly put the victim on a strict diet of canned beans that the victim suggested made her lose 65 pounds.
The indictment suggests Clark also cut off contact to the victim's family by forbidding the victim to have access to phones, even punishing her for acquiring one — and demanding thousands of dollars from the victim's family for her return. The victim told investigators that Clark supervised the few calls that were allowed to family. Her family said the victim was crying and sounded like she was being "coached."
Clark rarely allowed the victim to pursue outside or paying work, instead forcing her to perform "maid" work, cleaning Clark's cars and apartment without pay, the indictment states. At one point, she forced the victim to "sleep on the kitchen floor in a puddle of bleach as punishment" for using too much bleach while cleaning, according to court documents. When the victim was allowed to work, her pay was confiscated, she said.
Clark also is accused of preventing the victim from washing or changing her clothes, sometimes for weeks at a time, and physically beating her on at least four occasions.
In 2013, when the group relocated to Missouri where Clark's boyfriend was doing construction work, Clark forced the victim to have sex with two strangers, threatening violence if she refused, according to court papers. One of the men told investigators he recalled having sex with a young woman in Clark's company, but said he didn't pay for it.
"Clark advised (the victim) that she better do what was necessary to have sex with these men or else she would pay the consequence, which (the victim) interpreted as a further beating," the indictment states.
When they returned to Jacksonville, Clark insisted the victim live up to their original surrogate mother agreement. Clark tried to inseminate her three times with semen from a bartender from a nightclub, saying "a gringo baby would be worth more," the victim said.
At some point, the victim was able to contact her brother who lives in Los Angeles, and explain what was happening. But when her brother reached Clark, she allegedly told him the victim wasn't going anywhere until the victim had conceived or her family paid Clark $10,000, court papers allege. The victim's brother told Clark he wouldn't pay.
A stranger, who noticed the victim's behavior and signs of physical abuse, befriended the victim and helped her leave Clark's home.
In January, the woman, Iomara Miranda, contacted the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, which referred the complaint to Homeland Security Investigations. Authorities let the victim live with Miranda while her case was investigated.
Clark is due in court Friday, court records show.