MS-13 gang leader convicted of sex trafficking teens in Northern Virginia
MS-13 gang leader convicted of sex trafficking teens in Northern Virginia
By: Amanda Stewart | Inside NoVA
Published: February 23, 2012
ALEXANDRIA, Va. --
A gang member was convicted Thursday of federal sex trafficking charges for forcing girls as young as 14 to work as prostitutes in Northern Virginia.
A jury at U.S. District Court in Alexandria found 23-year-old Rances Ulices Amaya, known as “Murder” or “Blue,” guilty of conspiring to commit sex trafficking of a child and three counts of sex trafficking.
According to an affidavit on file in federal court, Amaya, of Springfield, a leader of the criminal street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, prostituted teen girls at hotels throughout northern Virginia, including in Woodbridge, Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church.
“Rances Amaya was an MS-13 leader who exploited vulnerable teen girls for sex and profit,” Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. “MS-13 sees juvenile prostitution as an easy way to earn a lot of money, and their victims are paying the price with their young bodies. We hope today’s conviction and the other cases we’ve brought through the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force will put gang sex trafficking rings out of business.”
Amaya began prostituting teen girls in 2009, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. According to court documents, he conspired with Alonso Bruno Cornejo, of Fairfax, to operate the prostitution ring.
Cornejo pleaded guilty to sex trafficking for his role in the ring and was sentenced to serve 24 years and four months in prison. According to court documents filed in Cornejo’s case, Cornejo targeted teen runaways and forced them into prostitution, often arranging for them to meet with clients in Prince William County.
According to court documents, Amaya used his affiliation with MS-13 “to keep customers and the victims compliant and fearful” and ran the prostitution ring “in an effort both to raise capital for MS-13 and to raise his stature in the gang.” He often carried a machete with him, prosecutors said.
Amaya and Cornejo would solicit customers “at sites frequented by Hispanic day laborers, such as 7-Eleven stores.” They often sought out illegal immigrants as customers because they did not think illegal immigrants would call the police, prosecutors said in a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
According to the news release, Amaya frequently had the clients and prostitutes meet at hotels in the Falls Church area.
The prostitutes were all between the ages of 14- and 17-years-old and were forced to have sex with eight to 10 paying customers a day, prosecutors said. According to court documents, Amaya often raped the girls and also gave them drugs and alcohol.
Court documents stated Amaya charged clients between $30 and $120 for sex with the prostitutes and used the money to buy drugs and alcohol and to support MS-13 activities in the United States and El Salvador.
Amaya is the fourth MS-13 gang member to be convicted of sex trafficking of children in the Eastern District of Virginia, according to the news release.
Rances faces 10 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on June 1.
Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-530-3908.
Source: MS-13 gang leader convicted of sex trafficking teens in Northern Virginia | InsideNova
