MS-13 Leader Arrested for Sex Trafficking Runaway Teen Girls
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 26, 2011 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—Rances Ulices Amaya, a/k/a “Blue” or “Murder,” 23, of Springfield, Va., was arrested yesterday accused of running an underground prostitution business involving underage female runaways.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after Amaya’s initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson.
Amaya was charged by a criminal complaint with sex trafficking of a minor, and he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison if convicted.
According to court documents and court proceedings today, Amaya is a leader of the Guanacos Lokotes Salvatrucha (GLS) clique of MS-13. In the spring of 2010, Amaya allegedly assisted another MS-13 member in running a juvenile prostitution business by recruiting clients and providing security at the appointments, which included carrying a machete. Amaya is accused of threatening the juveniles and physically assaulting them if they did not want to have sex with the clients. He also had sex with the juveniles for free, sometimes with more than one on the same day. Amaya allegedly told at least one of the juveniles to not tell a client her true age.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with the assistance of the Fairfax County and Prince William County Police Departments and the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary Terwilliger is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
Founded in 2004, the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force is a collaboration of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies—along with nongovernmental organizations—dedicated to combating human trafficking and related crimes.
Criminal complaints are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.