Florida business owner accused of running human trafficking ring

A “massive trafficking ring” operating out of businesses in Hillsborough and Manatee counties has been dismantled, according to authorities, who this week announced the launch of the Florida Human Trafficking Enforcement Team in connection with the arrest.

“The disturbing facts of this case underscore the need for our new statewide response team,” Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement.

Lina Payne, who owns several businesses in Manatee and Hillsborough counties, is at the center of the case. She was charged with human trafficking and other crimes after authorities said she forced immigrants into the sex trade in establishments serving as spas or hair salons.

Payne, whose address is listed as an apartment complex on Via Del Mar in Tampa, is charged with six felonies: human trafficking; at least $100,000 in money laundering; derive support from income from prostitution; using a two-way communication device to commit a crime; racketeering; and racketeering conspiracy, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office criminal affidavit.

The charges stem from activities between January 2021 and May 10, according to prosecutors, who allege Payne operated these businesses for prostitution: Latin Relaxation and Jackpot Barbershop in Manatee County as well as Expose Barbershop and Bare All Kinky Body Waxers in Hillsborough County. .

The investigation into Payne and his businesses has been going on for years, officials say. As early as 2019, the Tampa Police Department was investigating Expose Barbershop, which authorities said had no indication that it was a barbershop and instead had a website linked to Latin Relaxation, which featured nude or partially nude photos of women, including Payne. Its website today shows that services include a $220 facial shave and a $220 body exfoliation treatment, with photos of a scantily clad woman in compromising positions.

In November 2022, prosecutors say the Manatee County Sheriff's Office received a complaint that Payne was promoting prostitution with the possibility of human trafficking at Latin Relaxation in Bradenton. Then, in July 2023, a woman called law enforcement to report that she had been forced to engage in human trafficking at Latin Relaxation “to pay off Payne's exorbitant debt and it was against her will.” “, prosecutors said in a press release. The debt was $40,000 to $50,000 for helping the woman enter the country and $13,000 for a relative's medical treatment, the release said. Most of Payne's victims were women from Colombia and Venezuela, authorities said.

After Payne charged $40,000 to $50,000 to smuggle women across the border, she held them in debt bondage and forced them to perform sex acts for money, often saying ” threats of physical violence against women and their families in other countries,” the attorney general said. said the office.

More than 117 victims have cycled through Payne's businesses over the past decade, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell said, according to WFLA.

Florida's new Human Trafficking Team is helping make contact with 10 victims in the case, and authorities expect more victims to come forward.

To help follow leads across the state, the new response team is comprised of prosecutors, analysts and agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, deputies from Hillsborough and County Pasco, anti-human trafficking investigators and victim advocates. Currently, the response team is investigating more than 20 cases of human trafficking, officials say, including the Payne case, and making contact with 40 victims.

Prosecutors say Payne acted in collaboration with her son, Andres Santiago Payne, and her boyfriend, Sebastian Rubianes Jurado, to illegally conduct transactions exceeding $100,000 a year. All three, now charged in the racketeering case, live at the same address, according to court documents. A director of Latin Relaxation, Karen McGlynn of Tampa, was also charged in the racketeering case. The same was true for Santiago Moreno, whose charges include transportation for the purpose of prostitution, according to court records.

Before Lina Payne left for a trip to South America in May, she was taken into custody in Broward County, prosecutors say in a statement arguing for her pretrial detention, noting that she had $9,000 at the time of his arrest. Her son and her boyfriend were arrested after driving to a Hillsborough County criminal attorney, and they had $60,000 in their possession, prosecutors said.

Lina Payne is scheduled to appear Aug. 5 at 9 a.m. in Tampa before Hillsborough County Criminal Court Judge Mark Kiser.