Mother, boyfriend and son charged in massage parlor prostitution ring in Broward County

A mother, her boyfriend and her son ran a prostitution ring that spanned at least seven massage parlors throughout Broward County, the Sheriff ’s Office announced Thursday.

Catalina Soto, 49, her son, Diego Molina-Prieto, 28, and her boyfriend, Yonleno Carmenates, 44, are now facing charges of deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution, money laundering and racketeering, according to court records. All three suspects live in Fort Lauderdale.

Soto and Carmenates were both arrested Monday, the Sheriff ’s Office said in a media release. A warrant was issued for Molina-Prieto, but he is out of the country.

The seven parlors cycled prostitutes in and out, most of them from South America, according to the warrant. Soto had operated parlors involved in prostitution for over 10 years, while Molina had helped for about three to four years. Meanwhile, Carmenates helped Soto move the money through his own financial institutions and businesses.

The warrant does not say how old the prostitutes were or whether they were being trafficked.

According to the warrant, the parlors’ locations were:

2464 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, a.k.a. “Spa Latinas Spa.”

5130 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, a.k.a “Reiki Latina Spa.”

1001 E. Sample Road, Deerfield Beach. 134 E. McNab Road, Pompano Beach, a.k.a “Aromatherapy Spa.”

405 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hallandale. 6530 W. Atlantic Blvd., Margate.

3075 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park.

In October 2022, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office received a tip from the FBI about prostitution and possible trafficking in several locations across the county, according to the warrant. The tip provided a phone number, which detectives connected to Linda Prieto, Molina-Prieto’s wife.

Detectives then linked Molina-Prieto to the business “Spa Latinas Spa” in Fort Lauderdale, according to the warrant. Customer reviews for the business describe different sex acts.

Between Jan. 27 and Feb. 3, detectives surveilled “Spa Latinas Spa” and observed about a dozen men come and go, each spending about 30 minutes inside.

Detectives also saw Molina-Prieto arrive at the spa in the middle of the week with a laundry basket, then leave with a trash bag, according to the warrant. They saw this happen multiple times.

In late April, a confidential informant rang the doorbell at the spa, according to the warrant. A female employee answered, saying “Spanish please.”

The informant asked if he could receive a massage, and she said yes and the cost would be $170 an hour.

“Can I choose the girl?” the informant asked, according to the warrant.

“Yes, I will introduce you to her,” the employee said.

During the massage with the second female employee, the informant asked if many girls work at the spa. The employee said there were always two girls working, but they change during the day and night.

“Would you like a better massage?” she asked at one point.

“How much for everything?” he asked. She said it would cost $100. When he asked if that included sex, she said yes, the warrant states.

Detectives followed the first employee to Molina-Prieto’s home in Fort Lauderdale. That same morning, they searched his trash, finding condoms and envelopes with dollar amounts written on them.

Detectives put trackers on both Molina-Prieto and Soto’s cars. His Nissan Sentra had been to the Spa Latinas Spa location 25 times, and the bank 10 times, between late April and mid-June, according to the warrant.

On June 21, the Broward Sheriff’s Office Money Laundering Task Force sent an undercover informant into three different massage parlor locations managed by Soto and Molina-Prieto. He wore a black hat with a Chicago Bulls logo that was actually a “covert surveillance device” that records audio and video, according to the warrant.

A female employee told him the cost would be $190, and he paid her $200 in investigative funds, according to the warrant. He walked into one of the massage rooms, where another employee told him that full service cost $200. When he asked what a full service was, she told him it included sex and another sex act.

The informant left, saying he didn’t have enough money for that day, the warrant states. Then he headed to the Deerfield Beach location. This time, when he asked what the $200 paid for, the employee said “everything.”

Detectives told him to try to get a massage. He undressed completely and lay down on the table, while a female employee also took off her clothes. When he asked her what the $200 included, she told him it included sex and another sex act. When she tried to initiate, the informant told her he didn’t feel comfortable and left.

Bank records show that Soto, Molina-Prieto and Carmenates “utilized multiple financial institutions” to launder over $100,000 of proceeds from the prostitution business between February 2022 and February 2023, the warrant states. Molina-Prieto would collect the proceeds from Soto, then use the money to purchase Western Union money orders and make utility payments to all the massage businesses.

Following the investigation, detectives executed search warrants at all three suspects’ homes on Monday, according to the media release, arresting Soto in Fort Lauderdale and Carmenates in Dania Beach.

Molina-Prieto “will be arrested upon return,” the release said.