Florida Student Arrested For Running High School Prostitution Ring: Cops

A Florida high school student is accused of running a prostitution ring that involved selling underage girls for money and alcohol, authorities said. Alexa Nicole De Armas, a 17-year-old at Sarasota High School, was arrested Friday and faces a felony charge of human trafficking of a person younger than 18, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune first reported. A 21-year-old man — identified as John Michael Mosher — was also arrested Friday for allegedly paying $40 and a bottle of liquor in exchange for sex with a 15-year-old, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. A third person is expected to be charged Tuesday.

Investigators learned about the ring when four students at nearby Venice High School told administrators in October about it, according to the Herald-Tribune. De Armas allegedly set up Mosher to have sex with the juvenile at a community pool, police said in a report. "[The underage girl] stated she told Mosher she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him to which he disregarded and forcefully held her against the wall of the pool shed building, restricting her movement and ability to flee," the report said. Authorities say De Armas and an accomplice had set up at least two other prostitution encounters using Facebook. The ring included other Sarasota County schools as well, police said.

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— Erik Ortiz

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