Man Sentenced To 17 Years In Prison For Sex Trafficking Of Children

SAN JUAN, P.R. – United States District Court Judge Francisco A. Besosa sentenced José Luis Otero-Otero to 210 months (17 years and 6 months) in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for sex trafficking of children, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. Otero-Otero had plead guilty on November 4, 2016.

According to the Plea Agreement filed on November of 2016, the defendant sexually abused and/or engaged in illicit sexually explicit conduct with at least four male minors. Otero-Otero knowingly recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, advertised, maintained, patronized and solicited by any means two 12 year-olds, one thirteen and one fourteen year-old male minors, knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that they were minors and caused them to engage in commercial sex act.

The Government’s version of facts states that the defendant paid the male minors between twenty and eighty dollars to engage in sexual acts. Otero-Otero paid the victims in order for them to allow him to perform oral sex on them and also for the minor males to penetrate Otero-Otero anally.

“Justice was done today. This sentence should serve to reassure the public that we are paying close attention to the well-being of our children, and that we will spare no expense to take child predators off the streets,” said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. “All child sexual predators will be held accountable for the unspeakable crimes they commit and the harm they cause to their victims and their families.”

Project Safe Childhood is an initiative of the Department of Justice aimed at preventing the abuse and exploitation of children by the use of digital cameras, computers and other digital and electronic media.

The criminal prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elba Gorbea. ICE-HSI was in charge of the investigation with the collaboration of the Puerto Rico Police Department.