A Tucson police investigation has uncovered a violent undercurrent in the prostitution ring that was operating at multiple locations for several years.
Public documents reveal a history of employees and operators either being the victims or perpetrators of several crimes unrelated to prostitution.
Home invasion
The suspected operators of the prostitution business By Spanish, Clarissa Lopez and Ulises Ruiz, along with their children, were targets of a brazen robbery on March 22, 2014, police records show.
Lopez and Ruiz had just returned home with their two children when they were confronted at gunpoint and held hostage inside their home. The children, Ruiz’s 10-year-old daughter with his ex-wife and the couple’s young son, were driven around the neighborhood in Ruiz’s vehicle by one of the suspects, records show.
In interviews with detectives, the couple later said they were forced into the house by at least two men, blindfolded and bound with duct tape. Their captors used Taser guns on them and demanded money in exchange for the safe return of their children.
One of the men threatened that he could “probably get $50,000 for the little girl because she was cute,” the report said.
When the men finally left the home, taking several thousand dollars with them, Ruiz told police he was able to free himself. He ran outside, discovering the children asleep inside the car, the report said.
Violent fight
An employee of By Spanish and her boyfriend pleaded guilty to charges related to an altercation at the woman’s apartment.
On Dec. 26, 2013, Emerald Peterson, and her boyfriend, Noah Pizano, invited five friends, including another employee of By Spanish, to Petersen’s apartment, police reports show.
An argument started between Peterson and the other employee, which led to the women exchanging punches and ending up on the ground.
Witnesses told police that Peterson held the woman on the ground while Pizano and another man punched and kicked her face and body.
The victim sustained a broken nose, and was robbed of cash and personal belongings, police reports say.
Peterson, Pizano and two other men were indicted in January 2014 on 12 felony counts, including aggravated assault on an incapacitated victim, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with temporary or substantial disfigurement, court records show. Pizano was also indicted on two other felonies related to the crime.
In April of this year, Peterson pleaded and was sentenced to three years of probation for burglary in the second degree and aggravated assault on an incapacitated victim.
Pizano pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, court records show. He was sentenced to 120 days in the Pima County jail.
Grow house
In January, when officers raided several properties associated with By Spanish and affiliated businesses, officers found more than two dozen marijuana plants in one of them, a large mobile home on the far west side, police reports show.
It’s unclear whether detectives were aware of the grow operation prior to the raid.
Roughly 30 plants, a bag containing a pound of drug paraphernalia and several bags with various amounts of marijuana were seized, along with a 22-caliber handgun.
On February 17, 28-year-old Christopher Gastelum, the homeowner and an employee of Pascua Pueblo Fire Department, was indicted on four felonies, including production of marijuana and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a drug offense, court records show.
Pascua Pueblo did not respond to questions about whether Gastelum is still employed there.
The day after his indictment, Gastelum and his girlfriend, the suspected operator of Daisy’s Delights, which Tucson police say was an offshoot of By Spanish, applied for a marriage license, court records show. They were married two days later, before the start of his trial.
On April 30, Gastelum pleaded guiltyto solicitation to possess marijuana for sale, a low-level felony, and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
Where the case stands
Almost six months after the Tucson Police Department’s raid on the 10 properties associated with By Spanish and Daisy’s Delights, no charges related to the prostitution business have been levied against any of the parties involved.
Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor said he expects the Pima County Attorney’s Office to announce soon whether anyone will be charged.
Tucson’s city attorney declined to press charges against several publicly identified customers of the brothel, citing a lack of evidence.
