Pair accused of trafficking, beating and branding young mother arrested in Miami Springs

A man and his alleged accomplice were arrested in Miami Springs after police said they forced a young mother into commercial sex work across multiple states, beat her when she resisted and branded her with a tattoo to mark ownership, according to authorities.

Darrell Lamont Robertson Jr., 24, and Eushuùn Ileyana Thomas, 22, were taken into custody on Saturday.

According to the arrest reports, the duo was taken into custody after Miami Springs Police responded to a distress call at the Parkway Inn Hotel, where officers found the victim crying, fearful and clutching an infected tattoo of a red stiletto above the name “Heffe” — a nickname police say Robertson used. Her 2-year-old daughter was lying on the bed beside her.

These arrests come after a Miami Beach yacht operator, Kutay Satiroglu, was accused of trafficking multiple teens earlier this month.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said her office stands ready to investigate every accusation as more women have come forward to share their stories of abuse with authorities.

“We are organized and we are ready to pounce on anybody that is going to exploit our vulnerable folks,” she said.

According to the reports, the victim told officers she met Robertson and Thomas in Dallas, where Robertson identified himself as a pimp.

She said she was coerced into prostitution and transported through Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, New York and eventually Miami-Dade County to perform commercial sex acts under Robertson’s direction, authorities said.

Robertson allegedly set nightly quotas, took provocative photos of her for online ads and transported her to known prostitution corridors along Northwest 27th Avenue.

Police said he also brought the victim’s toddler to a nighttime child care facility before dropping her off for “dates.”

According to the reports, the victim said Robertson slapped her inside the hotel room earlier that night after she refused to go out to work.

Police said the victim told them she feared Thomas, described as the “bottom b**ch,” whose responsibilities included managing finances, recruiting women and monitoring the victim’s movements.

Investigators said Thomas rented hotel rooms for the victim and bore a matching stiletto tattoo, along with Robertson’s name inked on her chest.

Detectives later learned Robertson had purchased a plane ticket for the victim to travel to Miami a week earlier to continue sex work under their control.

Through surveillance, Miami Springs detectives spotted Robertson leaving an Airbnb in the same red jacket seen on hotel security footage and conducted a traffic stop, taking him into custody, investigators said.

Robertson was arrested on multiple felony counts, including human trafficking to coerce commercial sex activity, human trafficking involving transport across state lines, deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution, human trafficking by branding, and child abuse

Thomas was also arrested and charged with human trafficking and renting space for prostitution.

Both were booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.