FRESNO, CA—Michael Anthony Andrade, 34, of Fresno, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to 12 years and seven months in prison for sex trafficking of a minor, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Andrade’s co-defendant Javier Solis is scheduled to be sentenced August 24, 2015.

According to court documents, Andrade and Solis forced two girls, ages 15 and 17, to perform sex acts for money first in Fresno and then in San Luis Obispo. In addition, the 15-year-old girl was taken to a tattoo parlor in Fresno where the defendants’ nicknames were tattooed on her, one name on each shoulder.

Court documents further reflect the 17-year-old, a runaway, spoke with Fresno Police officers on October 24, 2013, after her mother brought her home from San Luis Obispo. While being interviewed, she told officers about the 15-year-old who was still in San Luis Obispo under the control of the defendants as well as the motel where she was staying. In response, the San Luis Obispo Police Department was contacted, and officers were able to successfully remove her from that location.

“Collaboration, such as occurred here between federal, state, and local agencies, is the key to stopping human trafficking networks. We are pleased with the guilty pleas and the message that this tough sentence sends to anyone involved in sex trafficking of minors. We will continue to be vigilant to seek out and take down the perpetrators of human trafficking by using the collaboration of our anti-human trafficking task force,” stated Dan Dow, San Luis Obispo County District Attorney.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Fresno Police Department, the San Luis Obispo Police Department and the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Frye and Mia Giacomazzi are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.