FORT MYERS, Fla. - (AP) -- A man has been arrested on charges he smuggled two Mexican migrants into the United States and sold them as part of a sex slave trade, authorities said.

Eliseo Escalante Santizo, 30, of Fort Myers, was taken into custody Monday at the Lee County Justice Center, FBI officials said. He was there for a court hearing on unrelated charges of battery and resisting an officer with violence, jail records show.

Santizo has been indicted on human trafficking and forced prostitution charges.

The female victims, ages 24 and 14, were smuggled into the United States through Arizona in August and transported to Florida, said Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy.

Santizo sold them in Fort Myers where they were told they had to work as prostitutes to pay off a $2,700 debt, prosecutors said.

The women escaped when they were left alone in an Immokalee motel room in August.

''They were recruited by a friend to work in the fields,'' Molloy said. ``These set of facts are very common to trafficking cases. People believe they are coming here for legitimate work but are instead forced into slavery.''

Santizo's public defender, Russell K. Rosenthal, declined comment.

U.S. Magistrate Shari Polster Chappell ordered Santizo to be held by U.S. Marshals until his arraignment Thursday.