A 22-year-old Massachusetts man has reportedly been arrested after allegedly smuggling a young girl from El Salvador into the U.S. for sexual purposes.
According to Time, which cites prosecutors and police, Luis Santos brought 14-year-old back “to be his woman and have sex with her.” He allegedly paid $5,000 to have the child “illegally smuggled” across the border in December 2016 after first speaking with her over Facebook, the Worcester Police Department said in a statement.
Luis Santos arraigned in Central District Court in #Worcester accused of sex assault, human trafficking. @telegramdotcom pic.twitter.com/Im9Wvwgz3h
— Rick Cinclair (@RickCinclair) January 17, 2017
Santos was charged late las week with multiple crimes that include kidnapping, rape of a child with force and human trafficking of a minor, the police department added.
Authorities said Santos forced the young girl to sleep in the same bed as him, where he forcefully touched her.
Time reports that Santos also locked the victim in a bedroom at times and refused to let her use the phone.
“It’s extremely troubling, on a number of levels” Worcester Police Sgt. Michael Hanlon said, according to NECN.
“Obviously the 14-year-old female had no idea where to go when she became a victim. She doesn’t speak English, she didn’t really know anyone here, so I’m sure she was in fear and had nowhere to run.”
Santos denies any allegations of sexual assault against the victim.
