A District Court judge in Virginia sentenced one member of a multi-state sex trafficking conspiracy to 188 months in prison for prostituting a minor.
Julio Cesar Revolorio Ramos, 29, of Adelphi, Md., knowingly encouraged a minor to work as a prostitute in January 2009, according to U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Revolorio Ramos pleaded guilty to charges of sex trafficking in November 2012.
Revolorio Ramos described the 15-year-old as “young” to prospective customers, anticipating and receiving special requests because of her age. According to court documents, the girl engaged in sex acts with dozens of customers in a few days.
Revolorio Ramos usually prostituted a woman or girl for six days before prostituting a different one, according to court documents. Between June and December 2010, the 15-year-old worked for Revolorio Ramos’s co-conspirators throughout the District, Maryland and Virginia, while he prostituted new women.
To find new clients, Revolorio Ramos distributed business cards to people gathered at day laborer sites, restaurants and check cashing stores in Virginia, court records said. The cards advertised false plumbing, landscaping or snow removal operations but included a phone number to call for prostitution. He used a portion of his profits to pay members of the MS-13 gang what was described as “rent.” The gang repeatedly threatened Revolorio Ramos with violence.
The conspiracy prostituted hundreds of Hispanic women and girls along the Atlantic seaboard, between Delaware and Virginia.
U.S. immigration authorities will gain custody of Revolorio Ramos upon completion of his 15-year term. Revolorio Ramos is a Guatemalan native without legal residency status in the U.S.
