Police rescue 20 exploited women, including minors, in human trafficking network in Bávaro

Bávaro-Punta Cana – Twenty women of different nationalities, including minors, were rescued during an operation to dismantle a human trafficking network in Bávaro-Punta Cana.

The operation, led by agents of the Department of Investigation of Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Persons, together with the Special Investigation Division of Transnational Crimes (DEIDET), also resulted in the arrest of five people in the province of La Altagracia.

The intervention was also supported by the Investigations Department of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons (PETT).

The operation carried out in Bávaro-Punta Cana was the result of an exhaustive investigation initiated in 2023 after receiving information about a criminal network dedicated to sexual exploitation in an abandoned house known as “La Mansión.”

This network, led by Domingo Lorenzo Santana “Wellington”, 44, operated a bar where victims were sexually exploited. The others arrested were Reyna Julissa Solano Monción, 27; Marinelys Familia Ogando, 45; Berlín Erisme (alias “Obama”), 30, and Richard de la Cruz Camacho (alias “El Pa” or “Paz”), 46.

The investigation revealed that the network recruited women and minors from different provinces of the country, including the National District, Santiago de los Caballeros, Puerto Plata, and La Romana, and then transported them to Bávaro-Punta Cana, where they were housed and exhibited in windows for sexual exploitation.
During the operation, the authorities arrested the members of the network and rescued the victims, who are receiving assistance and protection.