NYC- A Brazilian woman accused of being a high-class hooker tearfully pleaded her innocence yesterday, saying she "didn't do anything" and her arrest was "a nightmare."
Less than 24 hours after posting bail, Claudia DeCastro told the Daily News she has never been paid for sex and did not work for her friend Andreia Schwartz, who allegedly ran a million-dollar prostitution ring in Manhattan.
Dressed casually in a denim miniskirt, black V-neck sweater and flip-flops, DeCastro, 27, fought back tears as she spoke of her arrest and its impact on her family in Brazil.
"I didn't do anything," she said in an exclusive interview at her Hell's Kitchen home. "I just came to America to work and was thinking about my future. I feel terrible about what's happened and I'm miserable and feel disgusted by what people I know think of me, especially in Brazil."
"It's a nightmare," she added. "When I close my eyes, I can't believe it. It's like a dream.
"I'm worried about my mother and my sister and what they think and how they must be feeling."
Cops collared the beautiful blond Wednesday as she tried to pick up clothes for Schwartz at the alleged madam's W. 58th St. condo.
Prosecutors believe DeCastro worked as a call girl for Schwartz, who is being held without bail at Rikers Island on charges of running a brothel for moneyed men who paid $700 for sex and bought cocaine. DeCastro was released on $1,000 bail Friday.
"I have never been arrested before, and it was the worst experience of my life and I will never forget it," DeCastro said.
DeCastro came to New York in May 2005 and a month later moved into Schwartz's previous three-bedroom apartment, on Eighth Ave., after the pair met through friends. She said Schwartz was friendly and welcoming but was out of the country during most of the nine months she lived there.
"Sometimes we went out together, and she was always around people and girls, but they were just normal people from university," DeCastro said. "Some were wealthy, but I only ever saw her with one man. She had the same boyfriend for many months and was always away traveling with him."
DeCastro says she has spoken to Schwartz only a couple of times since moving out of the apartment in March.
"When I heard she had been arrested, I was very shocked," she said. "I knew that she had money but didn't know where it came from. I just thought it belonged to her. She never gave me any money."
DeCastro said her boyfriend of nine months, who is from Pennsylvania, is upset by the events and is now staying with her.
DeCastro lives with Allan Santos, 25, a friend from Brazil she has known for seven years. Santos came to New York in 2003 and is studying advertising and marketing at City College.
The pair have gone into business together, importing designer bathing suits from Brazil.
Santos said, "The allegations are ridiculous. She's the sweetest person and I've never heard a bad word said about her. We live together, so I would know if she was involved in anything like this."
He added, "I've seen Schwartz in clubs but don't really know her. She's just a girl who wants to have fun in New York."
