Elton Valentino charged after allegedly driving girl to work at Sydney brothels
An alleged member of an international sex trafficking ring was paid $1000 a week to drive an underage girl to work at Sydney brothels, a court has heard.
Manly
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An alleged member of an international sex trafficking ring was paid $1000 a week to drive an underage girl to work at Sydney brothels, a court has heard.
Elton Valentino, of Wentworth Point, allegedly drove the 17-year-old to have sex with paying customers, knowing she was under 18, Manly Local Court heard when he was refused bail on Wednesday.
The Australian Federal Police allege Valentino, 30, an Indonesian citizen, was a senior figure in what magistrate Lisa Stapleton described as a “furtive organised crime” group, which is said to have profited from human trafficking.
Valentino was arrested in Manly on Tuesday, almost three months after the alleged local ringleader of the syndicate was chrarged as part of Operation Mirani — a 20-month joint investigation by the AFP, Department of Home Affairs and Indonesian National Police.
Surya Subetki, 43, of Arncliffe, remains before the courts after being charged with offences that include organising the entry to Australia of a person under 18 to provide sexual services.
Police allege he was “the principal of an organised crime syndicate which profited from human trafficking and worked with an Indonesian-based recruiter to find victims to send to Australia”.
He is also alleged to have organised the transportation of the 17-year-old girl from Indonesia.
Manly Local Court heard on Wednesday that the girl had been able to obtain a visa to stay in Australia after entering the country from Indonesia on falsified Indonesian documents.
Valentino was described to the court as a driver, who had allegedly earned $1000 a week driving the underage sex worker “back and forth” to brothels from a home at Blakehurst.
He has been charged with two counts of domestic trafficking in children, as well as single counts of possessing child abuse material — 11 images of the girl on his iPad — and one count of using a carriage service to access child abuse material.
During Valentino’s unsuccessful bail application, a Commonwealth prosecutor alleged the 30-year-old packing plant worker had collected the money the girl, and other sex workers, had made at the brothels and banked it on behalf of a more senior member of the organised crime group.
The prosecutor also alleged Valentino knew when he was driving the girl to brothels that she was just 17.
“He played more than a limited role,” the prosecutor told the court.
The court also heard the syndicate had placed an advertisement stating the girl was aged 18 and 19.
In denying Valentino bail, Ms Stapleton said he appeared to be part of a “furtive organised crime” group.
“He is part of a broader piece of organised crime,” she said.
“The vulnerable individual has been trafficked into Australia.”
Valentino is next due to appear in the Downing Centre Local Court.
Operation Mirani has also previously led to the arrest of an Indonesian woman, suspected of being a recruiter for the “organised crime group”, in Jakarta in March.
She has been charged with human trafficking offences in Indonesia.
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