Man sentenced for sex with girl forced into prostitution

Associated Press - July 21, 2007 4:05 PM ET

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - A man who had sex [sic] 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 [sic] 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 [sic] she performed in March and April 2004.