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Gaithersburg mother, daughter plead guilty to running a prostitution ring

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006

A 65-year-old Gaithersburg woman and her daughter pleaded guilty for their roles in a prostitution ring that brought hundreds of women from New York and New Jersey to work in 15 brothels in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

Olinda Aparicio pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to conspiring to transporting individuals across state lines with the intent to engage in prostitution. She faces five years in prison when she is sentenced on Jan. 31.

Her daughter, Elsy Aparicio, 30, faces up to 25 years in prison after she pleaded guilty on Nov. 3 to the transportation charge and to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Her sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17.

The Aparicios were part of an eight-member interstate prostitution ring that operated from April 2003 until their arrest on Nov. 16, 2005.

Elsy Aparicio’s husband, Jonathan Lopez-Cruz, 32, was sentenced on Dec. 5 to 27 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of transporting individuals across state lines with the intent to engage in prostitution.

Trials for five people are pending.

Elsy Aparicio would call women in New York and New Jersey to arrange pickup locations for them on Monday mornings and she or others would drive to Maryland, according to her plea agreement.

Olinda Aparicio helped rent apartments and buy homes in Germantown, Gaithersburg, Langley Park and Takoma Park that were used brothels and bought cell phones for the prostitutes so they could arrange to be picked up, according to her plea agreement. She also sold lingerie and shoes to the women.

As part of the plea agreement, the women agreed to forfeit a Gaithersburg home and a Takoma Park home, a 2000 BMW 323 and a 1999 Toyota van bought with proceeds from the prostitution ring and $8,185 in cash seized from the brothels.