A mother of 14 tried to
make ends meet, police
say, by pushing her
into "hell" and
selling their virginity for a
couple of hundred dollars.
Margarita de Jesus Zapata
Moreno, 45, was arrested
this week together with a
51-year-old contractor who
police believe impregnated
one of the young
daughters.
She broke down in tears
when she stood in front of
the cameras after being
arrested in Bogota, the
Colombian capital. The
Bogota Metropolitan Police
say Zapata sold the
virginity of 12 daughters to
much older men seeking to
have sex with young
virgins.
Authorities also say the
suspect would begin selling
her daughters to men as
soon as the girls turned 12
years old. She charged
anywhere between 300,000
and 400,000 Colombian
Pesos ($160 to $212) for a
virgin.
But Zapata strongly denies
the accusation. Colombian
authorities often show
high-profile suspects to the
media shortly after
arresting them. When
Zapata was standing in
front of the cameras
Wednesday, one of the
reporters shouted a
question to her: "Did you
prostitute your daughters?"
She answered: "No, my
darling."
Colombian police say they
learned of this alleged
case of abuse because one
of the alleged victims
stepped forward.
Authorities say one of the
suspect's daughters forced
into prostitution gave birth
to a baby boy when she
was 14. She had refused
her mother's orders to
have an abortion.
Colonel Carlos Melendez, a
Bogota Metropolitan Police
spokesman, told CNN
affiliate Caracol TV the
young girl described to
investigators the "hell" in
which she lived when she
was still a prepubescent
girl, about being forced to
have sex with much older
men in her home and
about a life of abuse and
neglect.
"She was a minor and she
still had the courage to
report the abuse and also
to refuse to have an
abortion. That's when this
investigation started, from
the threats of her own
mother," Melendez said.
The investigation took
more than a year to
complete because the only
witness willing to testify,
the 14-year-old girl, now
16, disappeared,
apparently because she
feared her mother would
kill her for going to the
police.
After she reappeared, she
also told authorities about
a man who had sex with
her and got her pregnant.
Police arrested a 51-year-
old man who investigators
say fathered the son of the
girl who was 14 years old
when the baby was born.
The suspect declined to
comment at Wednesday's
police presentation.
Police are asking the rest
of the daughters to provide
more information about
this case. "Those who are
watching or listening to us,
we would like to ask them
to come to the police so
that they give us
information about
transpired in this case,"
Melendez said.
Police investigators say
Zapata also forced her
older daughters to drink
alcohol and do drugs.
Some ended up working as
prostitutes and are
missing, police said.
Police say those two
arrests are only the
beginning. Investigators
say they will also build
cases against the men who
were having sex with these
minors.
According to authorities,
only two of Margarita de
Jesus Zapata Moreno's 14
children were not forced
into prostitution. They were
the two youngest -- an 11-
year-old boy and a 9-year-
old girl -- and they have
been placed in the custody
of a Colombian
government child
protection agency.
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