Associated Press - July 21, 2007 4:05 PM ET
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - A man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl who had been forced into prostitution has been sentenced to serve up to 15 years in prison.
District Judge Nancy Guthrie in Jackson yesterday (Friday) sentenced 37-year-old Juan Luna to serve between nine to 15 years in prison.
Luna admitted this spring to having sex with the girl five times in March 2004.
A federal judge last month sentenced three other men who admitted forcing the girl to work as a prostitute to serve prison sentences ranging up to eight years.
Prosecutor Brian Hultman asked Judge Guthrie to hand Luna a lengthy prison sentence. He argued that Luna's crimes were at least as bad as the crimes of the men who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a child in the case.
The girl has testified that the men who brought her into the country from Mexico told her that she needed to repay a debt for her transportation. She said she never received money for the sex acts she performed in March and April 2004.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Man on Trial in 'Sex Tourism' Case, July 17, 2007
AP Online
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 8:00:00 PM
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A wealthy motel owner accused of sexually
abusing boys from a poor Eastern European village tossed money
around to ingratiate himself with people he met, a federal
prosecutor said in his opening statement at the man's trial.
Anthony Mark Bianchi, 44, of North Wildwood, N.J., is being
tried under a little-tested 2003 law designed to thwart "sex
tourism" by trying suspected overseas child predators in U.S.
courts. Bianchi has been accused of assaulting nearly a dozen
minors on foreign soil.
Bianchi's attorney, high-profile defense lawyer Mark Geragos,
said his client is being falsely accused by Moldovan boys who are
getting what amounts to a swank prosecution-funded trip to the U.S.
in exchange for their testimony.
Four of eight accusers who testified at a closed-door court
hearing in the former Soviet republic recanted, while the others
changed their stories drastically, Geragos said. Prosecutors have
said some of the accusers were too embarrassed to say in their home
country what happened.
Bianchi is accused of assaulting boys from Trebujeni, Moldova, a
remote village of 600 to 700 people, between 2003 and 2005. Federal
prosecutor Michael Levy told jurors the defendant spread his money
around there for sinister reasons.
Bianchi allegedly gave a television and $25 to one family that
innocently let their son stay with him one night, prosecutors said.
"Everything he did was designed to make friends with these
boys," Levy said. "And then, when their guards were down, he
began his advances."
Prosecutors charge that Bianchi, through a local translator who
helped procure the boys, assaulted teenagers in exchange for money,
liquor, gifts and trips, including trips to Cuba and Romania.
Prosecutors suggested that only someone with ulterior motives
would vacation in the isolated village of Trebujeni, where most of
the accusers live, but Geragos said the town draws tourists with
its scenic beauty and hilltop monastery.
"There are no four or five-star amenities, but it's hardly some
impoverished place that no one would ever go," Geragos said.
He described Bianchi -- who with his parents owned a New Jersey
beach motel -- as a veteran traveler who sought out offbeat
destinations. Bianchi liked to stay in small boarding houses to get
to know the locals, Geragos said.
Bianchi was convicted of Russian charges connected to children
from the same village in 2000; he was sentenced to three years in
prison but immediately expelled from the country.
About 50 people, including Bianchi, have been charged to date
under what's known as the Protect Act. About 30 of them have been
convicted.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 8:00:00 PM
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A wealthy motel owner accused of sexually
abusing boys from a poor Eastern European village tossed money
around to ingratiate himself with people he met, a federal
prosecutor said in his opening statement at the man's trial.
Anthony Mark Bianchi, 44, of North Wildwood, N.J., is being
tried under a little-tested 2003 law designed to thwart "sex
tourism" by trying suspected overseas child predators in U.S.
courts. Bianchi has been accused of assaulting nearly a dozen
minors on foreign soil.
Bianchi's attorney, high-profile defense lawyer Mark Geragos,
said his client is being falsely accused by Moldovan boys who are
getting what amounts to a swank prosecution-funded trip to the U.S.
in exchange for their testimony.
Four of eight accusers who testified at a closed-door court
hearing in the former Soviet republic recanted, while the others
changed their stories drastically, Geragos said. Prosecutors have
said some of the accusers were too embarrassed to say in their home
country what happened.
Bianchi is accused of assaulting boys from Trebujeni, Moldova, a
remote village of 600 to 700 people, between 2003 and 2005. Federal
prosecutor Michael Levy told jurors the defendant spread his money
around there for sinister reasons.
Bianchi allegedly gave a television and $25 to one family that
innocently let their son stay with him one night, prosecutors said.
"Everything he did was designed to make friends with these
boys," Levy said. "And then, when their guards were down, he
began his advances."
Prosecutors charge that Bianchi, through a local translator who
helped procure the boys, assaulted teenagers in exchange for money,
liquor, gifts and trips, including trips to Cuba and Romania.
Prosecutors suggested that only someone with ulterior motives
would vacation in the isolated village of Trebujeni, where most of
the accusers live, but Geragos said the town draws tourists with
its scenic beauty and hilltop monastery.
"There are no four or five-star amenities, but it's hardly some
impoverished place that no one would ever go," Geragos said.
He described Bianchi -- who with his parents owned a New Jersey
beach motel -- as a veteran traveler who sought out offbeat
destinations. Bianchi liked to stay in small boarding houses to get
to know the locals, Geragos said.
Bianchi was convicted of Russian charges connected to children
from the same village in 2000; he was sentenced to three years in
prison but immediately expelled from the country.
About 50 people, including Bianchi, have been charged to date
under what's known as the Protect Act. About 30 of them have been
convicted.
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