HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Two Homestead men are facing felony charges in connection with an undercover child sex trafficking sting “in preparation for the FIFA matches scheduled to take place in Miami-Dade County,” authorities said.
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Police said they took Mohamed Kazim Latiff, 51, and Tomas Julio Matom Gallego, 23, into custody after the pre-World Cup sting on Tuesday.
According to arrest reports, the sting took place at an undisclosed hotel in Homestead.
Homestead police, along with investigators from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, plus other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, set up a sting in which detectives posed as a mother prostituting her two daughters online.
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Authorities said the men arranged to pay for sexual activities with one or both of the girls and were arrested after showing up at the hotel.
They each face three felony charges, including human trafficking of a person under 18. Matom also faces a resisting arrest charge.
As of Wednesday, both Latiff, a Guyanese national, and Matom, a Guatemalan national, were being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, online records show.
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