TAMPA β A Tampa woman was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison this week for orchestrating a prostitution ring that employed teenage girls and boys.
Alysia Algere, 29, pleaded guilty in U. District Court earlier this year to sex trafficking charges. A plea agreement details her efforts in recruiting a girl and boy, both 16, and a second year-old boy, to post online advertisements offering sex for money. Algere, whom the teens referred to as "Coco," posted sexually explicit pictures on a classified advertising website, according to the plea agreement.
She rented hotel rooms, where people responding to ads could meet the teens. It all was revealed, April 1, , when an anonymous caller phoned the Temple Terrace Police Department. Detectives heard that three women were trying to lure men into a room at the Ramada Inn, at Morris Bridge Road, with offers of sex. Once inside, the caller said, the men were being robbed.
When officers went to the hotel, a clerk told them that Algere had been renting the room in question for several days. A note in the hotel's computer system warned not to rent to her again because three other women were in the room.
In later interviews, a year-old girl told officers Algere had stopped her on the street one day, asking questions about her age and job. Algere explained that she made "lots of money and traveled. Algere later went to the girl's house and explained how prostitution worked, according to the plea agreement.
