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Melissa Madera, 27, forced the 15- and 17-year-old girls into commercial sex and compensated the teens with Ecstasy and cocaine to ensure their compliance, according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.
Madera had a sexually explicit image of one of the girls and used it on a commercial sex trafficking website, advertising the teen for sex acts at Berks County hotel locations such as the Quality Inn in Wyomissing and the Days Inn, Kleins’ Motel and Roadway Inn in Reading, Williams noted.
Madera would rent two rooms at the hotel: One room for the sex acts and the other where she would stay after meeting the buyers, who paid $200 per hour, Williams said.
Sometimes, one of the girls would not make it to school the following day because she had been given so many drugs the previous night, Williams noted.
After the 15-year-old’s mother reported her missing to the Reading Police Department in October 2017, Madera confronted the girl and assaulted her, saying “This is what you get for being a rat," Williams said.
In September 2020, Madera pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking minors, and one count each of distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography for her involvement in the child trafficking that took place from August to October 2017, Williams said.
She was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison, and a lifetime of supervised release by United States District Judge Joseph P. Leeson.
“The crimes committed by this defendant will physically and psychologically impact her victims for years to come,” Williams said.
“Madera advertised these children like objects and plied them with drugs so she’d be more easily able to control them. Her behavior is horrifying, and she deserves every single day of that prison sentence.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sherri A. Stephan.
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