TAMPA
A federal judge sentenced a Tampa man to 11 years and three months in prison for sex trafficking of female minors who were ages 14 to 17 years old, officials stated.
Luis Berrios-Trinidad was ordered to forfeit a Glock 19 9mm handgun and cellular phone, both of which were used during the commission of the offenses.
According to court documents, in May 2019, Berrios-Trinidad, 30, of Tampa, began communicating with undercover law enforcement agents regarding the commercial sex trafficking of underage females.
Berrios-Trinidad represented that he had access to girls ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old, and that the price per girl was between $160-180 an hour.
On June 6, 2019, Berrios-Trinidad arranged to bring two underage females to a hotel for a “sex party” with adult men. On that evening, he arrived with two girls, ages 14 and 17. Once inside the hotel room, Berrios-Trinidad was arrested, and the victims were rescued.
Berrios-Trinidad had plead guilty on Jan. 30.
This investigation was conducted under Homeland Security Investigation’s (HSI) Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators, officials stated.
Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 25,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child exploitation material, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children.
In fiscal year 2019, more than 3,500 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued, officials stated.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.