A second Sarasota County Schools student has been charged in connection to an act of prostitution and an attempt to establish a prostitution ring of students from Venice and Riverview high schools.
Julian Luis Mathena, 15, a Venice High student, was arrested today and charged with human trafficking, a felony, Venice Police Capt. Tom Mattmuller announced at a press conference this afternoon.
Mathena was already in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for unrelated charges — which Mattmuller did not provide information about — and remained in the department’s custody after he was rearrested.
His apprehension follows the arrest of Sarasota High School student Alexa Nicole De Armas, 17, on Friday. She was charged with human trafficking of a person younger than 18, a felony, police announced Monday.
De Armas is also in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Mattmuller said an investigation into the prostitution ring is still ongoing, but that his department currently did not expect to make any more arrests.
“This looks like it is isolated between Sarasota High School, Venice High School and Riverview High School,” he said.
Police reported Monday that they had also arrested John Michael Mosher, 21, on a felony charge of sexual battery on a victim older than 12. In August, he reportedly paid $40 and a bottle of liquor to have sex with a 15-year-old girl that Mathena and De Armas recruited from Riverview High School.
Mosher, whom Mattmuller said has home addresses in both Venice and Nokomis but was listed on jail documents as homeless, is a dishwasher at a local restaurant.
“Mosher was part of the same social group as these students,” detective Keith Quick said.
Police allege De Armas arranged for Mosher to have sex with the teenager in a community pool shed near a park off Colonia Lane in Nokomis. The 15-year-old said she told Mosher she did not want to have sex with him, but he held her against the wall of the shed to keep her from leaving.
“She was not a willing participant,” Mattmuller said. “She was coerced into this.”
Mattmuller said the girl appeared to have been the only person prostituted by Mathena and De Armas, although at least four more had been solicited by the pair after they were paid by Mosher.
Police said the ring came to light after four female students confided to Venice High School administrators that Mathena and De Armas had asked them to join their prostitution ring.
“They discussed it as a business opportunity and tried to recruit others to buy into the business,” Mattmuller said. “You could see that the motivation was money, alcohol and drugs.”
During a police investigation after a search warrant was issued for De Armas’ Facebook account, police said they found conversations between potential business partners, participants and details of how transactions would be made; prices for services included $50 to $70 to perform oral sex and $100 for intercourse with a virgin. They considered a 40 percent profit split for prostitutes.
Police said none of the sexual activities they are investigating happened on school grounds.
Sarasota County school officials will not make a comment because of the ongoing investigation, said Debbie Tippen of the district’s communications office on Monday. She said the district is cooperating with law enforcement.