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Gaithersburg resident Francisco Barahona, 46, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison with all but 30 years suspended after pleading guilty last year to sexually abusing a minor.
According to prosecutors, in 2019, Barahona was in the middle of serving a 10-year sentence for federal drug trafficking charges when the victim in the second case came forward to the police to report rape and sex trafficking she endured for years at his hands.
The victim reported she was trafficked by a relative of Barahona’s from Guatemala across the Mexican border into Texas, where she was detained by US Border Patrol.
"During several interviews with the victim between November 2019 and January 2020, she stated that she was 13 years old when an unknown man from Guatemala convinced her to go to the US to have a better life, and helped her across the border of Mexico into Texas," court documents state.
Barahona posed as her family member and coordinated the 14-year-old girl's flight to Dulles International Airport in June of 2010, investigators said.
When the teen was brought to Barahona's home, he instructed her that she would have to work for him in order to pay back for the flight and the "coyote" who had taken her across the US border.
"The victim advised Barahona that she was willing to get a job and pay him back, (but) Barhahona told her that because she was undocumented, she could not obtain a regular job, and that she was going to have to work sleeping with men for money in order to pay him back the $7,000 she owed him."
Investigators said that Barahona forced the girl to have sex with men for money in order to pay back the money she owed. He also forced her to live with him in his bedroom and regularly have sex with him.
She later got pregnant when she was 15 years old. It is unclear whether the child was Barahona's.
Last October, Barahona pleaded guilty to charges that include sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree rape.
Upon completion of his federal sentence, Barahona was transferred to Montgomery County to face the charges in this case which was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Sheila Bagheri.
In addition to his prison term, the judge also ordered that Barahona serve five years of supervised probation upon his release.
“This sentence reflects the heinous exploitation of a child at the hands of many individuals because of the actions of (Barahona)," State's Attorney John McCarthy said. "We thank the Montgomery County Police VICE and Intelligence Unit for their dedicated work and comprehensive investigation in this case."
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