Law&Crime Sidebar - Florida Psychologist Accused of Luring Teen for Sex Loses Her License

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Maria Duarte, a mental health professional in the Miami, Florida area, was found incompetent to stand trial on trafficking charges. Police say Duarte met a 15-year-old girl at a hotel and lured her to her hotel room, where she was allegedly assaulted. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses the latest developments with law enforcement instructor Sunny Slaughter.Aisling: https://aislingforlife.com/PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lcsidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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You need a lawyer on this. I'm a psychologist. I'm a PhD. I will lose my license and my life. I need help. She predicted it and now it's true. The woman accused of trafficking a teenager she met at a hotel near Miami, has had her psychology license suspended. We've gathered new information about Maria Duarte and her alleged co-conspirators, and we're going to break it all down right now.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Well, there are new details that are emerging about Maria Hemena Duarte, the 45-year-old Florida psychologist, accused of befriending a 15-year-old girl out walking her dog, before eventually convincing her to go up to a hotel room where the teen was allegedly assaulted. Now, this story might sound familiar to you because we first told you about this and we told you about Duarte in September when she appeared before a Miami-Dade County judge to find out about her bond and she became very emotional. She became very distraught.

And while the judge reads the very, very serious charges against her, Duarte repeatedly tries to interrupt. But for her, she's muted. arrested for one count of human trafficking, one count of lecibious exhibition on a child, one count of ludicin lascivious battery, and one count of interference with custody. So I will appoint the public defender's office for you. So I'm ordering that you stay away from the 15 year old child whose initials are BP, no contact with that alleged victim, either directly, indirect, in person in writing by telephone or through third parties and no contact with the victim through social media or other electronic means. You must stay at least 500 feet away from the victim, her home and school and place, her home and school in any place of employment.

Do you understand to stay away with her? Yeah. I had a chance to review the arrest affidavit. I think there's probable cause for everything. Count one, human trafficking if a child is considered a dangerous crime, it's no bond. You're going to have to wait until tomorrow to see a judge. That judge will set a final hearing on the state's motion for pretrial detention. Any further questions you can address with your public defender?

The other counts, Judge? The other counts. Count one is no bond. Count two is a second degree felony. It's $7,500. Now three is a second degree felony, $7,500. And count four, interference with custody is $2,500. Good days, ma'am.

Page two, Christian or Paul? Judge on Ms. Duarte indicates she has a private attorney. What's her name again? Janet Valdez-Darnell. Janet Valdez-Darnell. She's not here. You want to reset the case for tomorrow? Call your lawyer.

Tell her to go to court tomorrow. And you'll have the hearing before the division judge on the states. Ms. Corey, if you're not her lawyer, why are you turning it out? She's saying she's a lawyer. Judge, because she can't hear anything you're saying. If she's talking at the same time, she's going to cut off everything needs to listen to what you're saying. I can hear. Dan, have you hired a private lawyer? Can you afford to hire a private lawyer?

Can I speak? Can you afford to hire a private attorney? She's my best friend. She would do a pro bono. Okay. Let her. The gator. You need a lawyer on this. I'm a psychologist. I'm a PhD. I will lose my license and my life. I need help. I've never even touched that girl kiss her. The facts alleged in here are terrible facts. You're facing, was it a life felony for the human It's a first-degree felony, the human trafficking. You need an attorney. I'm appointing the public defender's office. If you want your friend to come on pro bono, she can at a later date.

You'll see your judge tomorrow. You're freaking out, but you had no problem with the facts alleged in here. It's pretty awful. It's only probable cause. It's not the trial. By the way, talking about Ms. Duarte, we looked her up. Her previous encounters with police have all been traffic-related. As far as we can see, we typed in her name.

name and state of residence on TruthFinder. And in less than a minute, our paid subscription gave us access to all these different court records. And yeah, by the way, law and crime partners with TruthFinder. We'll use it to get details on people involved in all of our stories. But even if you don't work in true crime, this can be an excellent resource to give you some peace of mind. It's one of the largest public record search services in the United States. And with a paid subscription service, you can get access to unlimited reports about almost anyone. And by the way, right now, you can get 50% off of your first month of confidential background. So if you're interested, go to truthfinder.com slash L.C. Sidebar.

Now, going back to this, according to police, this 15-year-old victim was walking her dog in the pool area of the aloft hotel in Kendall, Florida, when Duarte allegedly started talking to her, offered her alcohol, offered her marijuana, so the victim agreed to come back to the hotel later that night. She later told police that she met two different men who came to Duarte's hotel room. Authorities have now identified those men as 46-year-old. Jason Mojica, Duarte's boyfriend, and a man named Hermes Mejia. And the victim was told that 29-year-old Mejia was named Pablo, and that's how the affidavit actually refers to him.

So when you read it, it says the defendant on Wednesday, August 14th, 2024, began to take pictures of the victim and send them to Pablo and advised that the victim was 21 years old and willing to have sex with him. The victim told the defendant she was not like that and did not want to engage in sex. The defendant would ignore the victim and continue to insist. Shortly after, Pablo would arrive to the defendant's hotel room where the defendant would have sex with Pablo in front of the victim, seemingly as a way to teach this 15-year-old. Now, it goes on to state that Jason, who the victim knows as the defendant's boyfriend,

arrived and entered the hotel room. The defendant began to exit the room in an attempt to leave the victim in the room alone with Jason. The victim advised the defendant that she felt uncomfortable being in the room. alone with Jason. The defendant then pushed the victim back inside of the room, told her to stay and make Jason feel good. And then she apparently left. Now, according to the victim, she played on her phone in the bathroom for a while, but when she came out, she said that Mohika forced her to perform a sex act on him. The defendant has knowledge that the victim is a minor. The victim overheard the defendant state to Jason. She's 15. Can you believe that? In her statement to law enforcement,

the victim described the defendant by first, middle, and last name, age, and provided photographs and video of the defendant. Now, it's not clear exactly what that is at this point, but we'll explore that. Duarte now faces four felony charges, human trafficking, lewd and lascivious exhibition, lewd and lascivious battery, and interference with child custody. Now, Miami police say they tried to get some more information from her. So what did they do? They contacted Duarte on something that wasn't related to this case, to this situation. They end up taking her to the Miami-Dade Police Department.

They tried to interview her, but reporting indicates, not only was she not very forthcoming, she became belligerent, and police reported that she appeared like she was under the influence of some kind of drug. Well, a few days later, police identified Mr. Mohica, and actually the victim apparently picked out a photo of him, too. He was also charged with lewd and lascivious battery related to having sex with a child between the ages of 12 and 16, sexual battery and interference with child custody. He was denied bond. He's expected back in court next week. And Hermes Mejia referred to as Pablo in the affidavit was arrested during a traffic stop.

He was charged with lewd and lascivious battery, lewd and lascivious exhibition. He was given a $7,500 bond. He's also due back in court next week. And as for Duarte, she was deemed incompetent to stand trial. She was ordered to be committed to the Florida Department of Children and Families. So what about her license to practice in Florida, right? The psychologist. Well, an order for emergency suspension of Duarte's license was filed this week by the Florida Department of Health.

And the order states, in part, quote, in the course of their practice, psychologists routinely treat individuals with mental health issues, including vulnerable adults and children. Due to the unfettered access psychologists have to vulnerable patients, psychologists are required to act in a professional, responsible, and respectful manner. Psychologists are placed in a position of trust. Therefore, it is imperative that they demonstrate good judgment and good moral character. Dr. Duarte offered drugs and alcohol to the victim, performed sex acts in front of the victim, forced the victim to watch, and record sex acts that Dr. Duarte performed and watched as her boyfriend forced the victim to engage in oral sex.

Dr. Duarte's actions indicate that she lacks the good judgment and moral character necessary to be a psychologist. Therefore, Dr. Duarte's continued practice as a psychologist presents an immediate serious danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the public. So Duarte's license was immediately suspended, and the Florida Department of Health is now planning disciplinary action. A lot to talk about here. I want to bring in law enforcement instructor Sonny Slaughter to talk more about this. Sunny, thanks so much for coming on. Good to see you an expert in investigations and how this works.

So I'm not surprised that the license was suspended, although they're really basing it on allegations. She hasn't been found guilty, having said that, very serious allegations, and perhaps she should not have the ability to be treating anyone. Absolutely. You know, the suspension is the first step in their process to ensuring that she does not have any current contact with anyone in her practice and her being deemed incompetent also says that she probably needs to take a break and get herself readjusted before she can evaluate others. Although it's an allegation, it is a serious allegation, and we must ensure that she does not, you know, victimize anyone in her potential care going forward. And they also need to conduct an investigation about those that she may have impacted prior to this alleged.

serious allegation. Can we talk about those allegations for a second? The idea of using that position of trust, someone accused of abusing that position of trust. So here is a psychologist where you learn a particular set of skills, I sound like Liam Neeson, but a particular set of skills to ultimately, you know, you get vulnerable people to open up. That's what makes this particularly sinister, even aside from the sexual assault allegations. But have you seen in your experience, people in that position who abused that position? Oh, absolutely. It's very unique and very on point.

When you think about what people with those particular set of skills, with that access to vulnerable populations, how they know and how they have heard and overheard the way grooming happens, this is really a sinister type of behavior. And what she did, whether she has been compromised or not. she's a psychologist and she should know when it's time for her to step back and clearly she had no boundaries this is concerning and we see have seen this before and a lot of you know these type of settings i have worked with behavioral health facilities across the country that actually treat victims of trafficking and abuse and sexual assault schemes and they can get compromised quickly

if there is no oversight, if they have no way of regulating their own behaviors and their own concerns. Because remember, they are individuals and human too. And they have things that impact them. But we also have to oversee and manage these type of individuals in ways that they don't become compromised and then victimize others who really look to them for comfort, care, understanding, and to navigate their own behaviors and nuance, you know, crises. I'm sure you've seen a number of different sexual assault cases, trafficking cases. This particular fact pattern, again, not only disturbing, but very unique, right? Meeting this young girl, taking a hotel room, having two men come over. One, the defendant allegedly has sex with so she can show this 15-year-old, I don't even know,

teacher of some kind. And then having her boyfriend come to sexually abuse this 15-year-old, scheme again is maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong is it unique or is this something you've seen before in these alleged sex trafficking sexual assault cases well this it's not necessarily unique but I did find well I don't know I'm saying this it is unique and that this is a psychologist that lived in the area was working in the area and yet at a hotel for what appears to be an extended period of time and I was concerned whether the

she was using whether they in concert were using this particular pattern and method to lure in individuals because hotels can be used in these type of incidents and whether this was a pattern of practice that she had gleaned from other treatment of individuals and decided to use this as part of her tactic because you know they were at a hotel like she lived in the area Not that you can't stay in a hotel, even if you live in the area, but what was going on here? So there's a uniqueness in that way, and she is so knowledgeable about grooming patterns, whether it's trafficking, whether it's sexual abuse. This is a psychologist that knows what this looks like. This is Miami. Miami has a large populations of individuals who have been impacted by trafficking schemes.

I am a law enforcement instructor in the state of Florida. I have a lot of contacts and have actually been in Miami to talk about trafficking and sexual exploitation schemes. So I don't know whether I wouldn't necessarily say it's unique, but I do find what the individual did was maybe unique to a pattern that she has developed based on information that she now has access to. And it feels like it could be a pretty straightforward case. you seem to have this 15-year-old who's going to be a star witness, has already been providing information to the authorities, but also videos, photos. I mentioned that before. I don't know how you explain that away.

Yeah, no, that's correct. Explaining it away is going to be difficult because when the defendant provides the evidence of themselves in compromised positions and compromised settings regarding a victim or alleged victim, then you have to figure out, so what are you going to say to this, knowing that this is an individual who is underage, who has been compromised, who shared them their vulnerability based on what you told them that this is the type of work that you do. So, I mean, it's hard to wish away the evidence that's clear, actual, and factual that you have participated in, and they have evidence of.

By the way, talking about this 15-year-old, how do you instruct officers to conduct that interview? Because not only are you dealing with a minor, you're dealing with asking a minor to open up about being abused. I feel that must be a very, very sensitive and tough conversation, not only to have, but also the way you have that conversation must be, it has to be very specific on what they do. What do you teach law enforcement officers on how to have that interview? So one of the things is being a child forensic interviewer, taking those classes, that's something that I've actually done before. There's a very unique way in which you work into a relationship, the questions that you want to ask. This is not a one-time, one-off interview.

You really need to have context. So who is the victim? Will they identify with a person of a particular race or culture or heritage, someone who doesn't speak harshly, but speak softly? So the tenor and tone and the setting of the interview matters, how you introduce yourself, not having a badge on and a gun in the room, also kind of lowers the temperature of the expectations, not of the interviewer, but of the person being interviewed. small nuanced things, talking about your own, well, personal information, whether it's true or not, you know, you want to give them something about yourself to make them feel comfortable, to make them feel at ease. And because it is sexual, you have to be careful about how you ask questions because you can

ask the same question multiple times in different ways to extract the information that you need, which is what's a practice that law enforcement often sometimes do where you ask a question, ask something else, then go back to the same question, but in a different tone to gather the information that you're trying to elicit. And you also need to look them in the eye, be focused on what you're doing, which is why you often see two people in an interview room, one taking notes, one speaking, and the other person remaining silent unless there's something that they need to interject specifically in the case. Yeah, it's a really delicate process, but clearly a very important process if you're trying to get information about what was happening in that hotel room.

Sunny Slaughter, thank you so much for coming on. Good seeing you and appreciate you taking the time as always. Thank you, Jesse. It was great seeing you again. Take care. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us as always. And please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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