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Former Florida Resident Busted for Sex Trafficking Plot
Orlando, Florida – In a disturbing case of human trafficking, 50-year-old Patrick R. Minga, a former resident of Cape Coral, Florida, was arrested today on a criminal complaint for attempting to induce and facilitate the travel of an individual from Brevard County, Florida, to Quito, Ecuador, so that the individual could engage in illicit sexual conduct with minor girls.
According to the criminal complaint, Minga advertised a sex tourism business on Craigslist, promising to facilitate lodging, transportation, meals, and unlimited access to females from Ecuador and Colombia for a fee. An undercover agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Task Force observed the ad and contacted Minga, who then tried to induce and arrange the travel of the undercover agent from Florida to Quito.
Over several months, Minga advised the undercover agent that he could provide sexual encounters with minors as young as 13 and 14 years of age. On March 2, 2014, Minga traveled from Ecuador to the United States, where agents subsequently arrested him in Huntsville, Alabama.
Minga is currently detained, pending removal proceedings before a United States Magistrate Judge in Birmingham, Alabama. He will then be transported to the Middle District of Florida for further proceedings.
This case is being investigated by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilianys Rivera Miranda.
This case is another example of the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, which is being combat by the Department of Justice through its nationwide initiative, Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
Minga faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison if convicted.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Sex Crimes|Human Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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