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Federal officials announced the prosecution of the street gang members, who took in the runaway from northern Virginia and introduced her to members of MS-13 in 2018, telling her "they would be her family and protect her if she joined the gang,” prosecutors said.
The gang members then proceeded to beat the teen more than two dozen times with a baseball bat as part of her initiation, according to officials. They then sex trafficked her in Virginia and Maryland for cash and drugs.
“In one instance while in Virginia, men lined up to have sex with the victim in a wooded area behind two of the defendants’ apartment complex,” prosecutors stated. “She was also harbored in various apartments in northern Virginia where men paid her and her handlers cash for sex.”
Prosecutors said that the teen was later beaten again with a bat 26 times as a form of gang punishment.
Shortly after the second bat beating, the victim was transported to Maryland, where she was sold to numerous gang members and other customers in exchange for cash and drugs, including cocaine, according to officials.
During the investigation, prosecutors said that they recovered photographs and videos of the teen being sexually exploited, along with several social media messages regarding the trafficking and sexual exploitation of her.
Each of the seven was charged with sex trafficking a minor under the age of 14:
- Moises Zeyala-Veliz, 26, of Woodbridge, Virginia;
- Jose Eliezar Molina-Veliz, 22, of Woodbridge, Virginia;
- Santos Ernesto Gutierrez Castro, 22, of Woodbridge, Virginia;
- Luis Alberto Gonzales, 33, of Greenbelt, Maryland;
- Reina Elizabeth Hernandez, 50, of Hyattsville Maryland;
- Gilberto Morales, 34, of Hyattsville Maryland;
- Jonathan Rafael Zeyala-Veliz, 26, of Hyattsville Maryland.
All but Hernandez and Morales were also charged with conspiracy to transport a minor across state lines for purposes of illegal sexual activity.
Each faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a max of life in prison when they are sentenced in November.
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