62 year-old Estella Gonzalez is a Honduran Belizean by naturalization and the manager of Temptation's Bar at mile 10 on the Western Highway. On Friday, she was taken to court for immigration offenses of employing immigrants without valid work permits, but now, the authorities believe that she is a human trafficker.
Acting on intelligence, a team of officers from the Immigration Department, the Anti-Drug Unit and the Mobile Interdiction Team conducted a raid at the Bar, on Thursday night at around 9:30.
They found 12 women working behind the bar and as waitresses, but when the officers checked their credentials and their immigration documents, they found out that the women were Hondurans, Guatemalans and Dominicans. 10 of them didn't have valid working permits, and with the discovery, Gonzalez was identified as their employer.
She was then charged with 10 counts of employing persons without valid working permits, and she was arraigned before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer on Friday. She pleaded guilty to all counts and was fined a total of $10,000.
A few of the women were also charged with immigration offences because they didn't have a valid immigration status in Belize.
Well, Gonzalez though that after paying her fines, she would have no more trouble that wasn't the end of the matter. She was detained on Friday evening, and charged with human trafficking after the officers said that she exploited a 15 year-old female and used her as a commercial sex worker.
She was brought back to court today before Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith, where she was arraigned and granted bail of $2,000, which she was able to meet.
She must return to court on March 12, her next court date.
