Florida business owner charged with running human trafficking ring

A “massive trafficking ring” operating out of businesses in Hillsborough and Manatee counties has been dismantled, according to authorities, who announced this week the launch of the Florida Human Trafficking Strike Team in connection with the bust.

“The disturbing facts of this case highlight the need for our new statewide Strike Team,” Attorney General Ashley Moody says in a statement.

Lina Payne, who owns several businesses in Manatee and Hillsborough counties, is at the center of the case. She has been charged with human trafficking and other offenses after authorities allege she forced immigrants into the sex trade at establishments fronting as spas or barber shops.

Payne, whose address is listed as an apartment complex on Via Del Mar in Tampa, is charged with six felonies: human trafficking; at least $100,000 in money laundering; deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution; using a two-way communications device to commit a felony; racketeering; and racketeering conspiracy, according to the criminal affidavit from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.