Last week, agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initial: OIJ) arrested a 40-year old expatriate man and charged him with deriving proceeds off prostitution, a criminal offense often referred to as “pimping.” The arrest was carried out during an afternoon raid on a residence in the Plaza Viquez district, located just south of the capital city of Costa Rica.

According to a news report filed by metro journalist Carlos Lascarez of national newspaper La Nacion, the OIJ agents followed leads provided by confidential informants about the operation of an underground brothel at an inconspicuous home situated in a quiet corner of Plaza Viquez, not far from downtown San Jose. The information suggested the possibility of foreign women being coerced and intimidated into prostitution, and thus the Human Trafficking Unit of the OIJ conducted the raid.

The agents spent more than three hours collecting evidence and interviewing the prostitutes, who were not found to be working under any duress or threat. A number of items were confiscated, including a log book detailing the comings and goings of clients, who appeared to be predominantly North American and European men. Also seized were a computer, business cards, marketing material in English and Spanish, a smartphone, and a digital collection of pornographic material that apparently played in each room of the house, where the prostitutes performed compensated sexual acts for their clients.

In addition to this brothel raid, law enforcement agents have been paying visits this week to locales known to attract substantial prostitution and sexual tourism activity in Costa Rica, such as the Del Rey casino and hotel as well as the nearby Key Largo bar, both located in the “Gringo Gulch” district of San Jose.

In Costa Rica, acts of prostitution are not illegal per se; in spite of this permissiveness, third parties who derive proceeds from prostitution (pandering or pimping) are subject to criminal prosecution under Article 169 of the Criminal Code. This offense could result in prison terms between two and five years; this offense is typically aggravated by evidence of intimidation or coercion.

The nationality of the expat arrested was not reported; his last name is Calle.