ALEXANDRIA, VA—Rances Ulices Amaya, 24,
also known as “Murder” and “Blue,” was sentenced today to 50 years in prison
for recruiting girls as young as 14 from middle schools, high schools, and
homeless shelters in Northern Virginia and forcing them to engage commercial
sex acts on behalf of MS-13.
Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Virginia, and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in
Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after
sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.
“Rances Amaya’s gang name was ‘Murder,’
and in a real sense, he killed the hopes and dreams of teenage girls whom he
systematically and sadistically victimized,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “He
told these girls that he owned them and that he would hurt their loved ones if
they didn’t comply. They were his sex slaves, and that slavery goes to the
heart of the heinous crime of sex trafficking. These girls have traumatic scars
that will last a lifetime, and Mr. Amaya is justly going to spend the rest of
his productive life paying for his crimes.”
“Today’s sentencing demonstrates the
commitment of law enforcement and the judicial system to combat juvenile
prostitution and human trafficking in Northern Virginia,” said Assistant
Director in Charge McJunkin. “Together with our partner agencies, we will
continue to pursue individuals such as Mr. Amaya who ruthlessly exploit
vulnerable young girls for sex and money.”
Amaya was convicted by a jury on
February 23, 2012 of conspiracy and three counts of sex trafficking of a child.
According to court records and evidence at trial, Amaya joined MS-13 when he
was a teenager and later became a “shot caller” for his MS-13 clique, the
Guanacos Lokotes Salvatruchas. MS-13 gave him the gang monikers “Murder” and
“Blue,” and he bears multiple MS-13 tattoos on his hands and arms.
In 2009, Amaya joined forces with an
MS-13 associate who was already prostituting underage girls. Amaya used the
violent reputation of MS-13 to ensure that sex customers paid for the sex and
did not lure the underage victims away. He also used his MS-13 contacts to find
sex customers and would offer free sex with the victims and a cut of the
profits for any gang member who provided customers or underage girls. Amaya and
his co-conspirator sought out illegal aliens as customers because they believed
illegal aliens were unlikely to call the police. Amaya would hand out his
telephone number at construction sites and convenience stores frequented by day
laborers from Latin America.
Victims were required to have sex with
eight to 10 paying customers per day, sometimes seven days per week. Some of
the customers were sex addicts and repeat customers who paid daily for the sex.
At night, after the paying customers were finished, Amaya would invite his
fellow MS-13 members to have sex with the girls. Sometimes, to punish victims,
the gang would “run a train” on a victim, which meant that multiple gang
members would have sex with the victim in rapid succession. Amaya and other
gang members also raped the victims both for their enjoyment and to “groom”
them for the sex trafficking scheme.
Besides raping them to keep the victims
compliant, Amaya would provide them with cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and
other drugs. The evidence showed that Amaya prostituted five victims who were
between the ages of 14 and 17 years old. The jury heard that using underage
girls had two advantages: customers preferred young girls, and Amaya found them
easier to manipulate and control. In addition, there was always an implicit
threat of violence insofar as the victims knew that Amaya was MS-13, and he
frequently carried a machete with him, MS-13’s weapon of choice. Amaya also
struck at least one of the victims in the face.
The sex acts took place at motels,
hotels, houses, apartments, and cars in Washington, D.C. and the Northern
Virginia area. In particular, Amaya frequented a few hotels in Falls Church,
Virginia, and many of the customers were solicited from convenience stores in
the Culmore and Chirilagua neighborhoods of Northern Virginia.
Amaya charged between $30 and $120 for
about 20 minutes of sex with the victims. Customers were required to pay more
for “unusual” sex acts. The proceeds of the prostitution were used to purchase
narcotics, alcoholic beverages, and to support MS-13 in the United States and
El Salvador.
Amaya is the fourth MS-13 member to be
convicted of sex trafficking children in the Eastern District of Virginia.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s
Washington Field Office and the Fairfax County Gang Unit, with assistance from
the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney G.
Zachary Terwilliger and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Frank are
prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
Founded in 2004, the Northern Virginia
Human Trafficking Task Force is a collaboration of federal, state, and local
law enforcement agencies—along with non-governmental organizations—dedicated to
combating human trafficking and related crimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment