Mexican Man Sentenced to 24 Years for Sex Trafficking of Minors and Transportation for the Purpose of Commercial Sex

WASHINGTON – Today, Jorge Flores-Rojas, 44, an undocumented Mexican national, was sentenced to 24 years in prison by Chief Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. in Charlotte, N.C., for two counts of sex trafficking of minors and one count of interstate transportation of an adult for purposes of commercial sex, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Edward R. Ryan of the Western District of North Carolina.

Flores-Rojas pled guilty to the charges on Oct. 7, 2008.

According to testimony at today’s sentencing hearing, in approximately November 2007, Flores-Rojas trafficked a 16-year-old girl between Washington, D.C., and Charlotte for the purpose of causing her to engage in commercial sex acts in the Charlotte area. According to the testimony, the defendant forced the victim, an undocumented Honduran national, to go to Charlotte with him. Also according to the testimony, the defendant repeatedly sexually and physically abused her in order to force her to perform commercial sex acts.

Testimony at the hearing also revealed that in approximately November 2007, Flores-Rojas trafficked a 17-year-old girl and an adult woman between Charlotte and Washington, D.C., for the purpose of causing them to engage in commercial sex acts in the Washington area. Flores-Rojas had previously paid other persons to smuggle these victims from Mexico into the United States, testimony indicated.

In addition to the sentence of 24 years in prison, the court ordered Flores-Rojas to pay $117,000 in restitution to one of the victims, and he will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Flores-Rojas will be deported to Mexico upon his release from prison.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Elizabeth Yusi of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenny Smith and Cortney Escaravage of the Western District of North Carolina. Assistance was provided by Trial Attorney Kayla Bakshi and Special Litigation Counsel Hilary Axam of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Connelly of the District of Columbia. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Police Department.