A woman and mother of 14 in Colombia tried to make ends meet by selling their daughters virginity for a couple hundred dollars.
Margarita de Jesus Zapata Moreno,
colombian, 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."
