Man sentenced to 20 years for sexual exploitation of minors in Santiago

Santiago, R.D. — A Santiago court sentenced Juan Carlos Sosa Bencosme to 20 years in prison for the crimes of sexual exploitation and human trafficking against two 14 and 15-year-old adolescents. According to the Santiago Prosecutor’s Office, through the Department of Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Trafficking, Sosa Bencosme headed a network that located and recruited the victims, inducing them to have sexual encounters with adults in exchange for money, which he collected and administered, deciding what part he gave to the minors.

You may be interested in: U.S. Attorney’s Office requests 11 years in prison for P. Diddy

Litigating prosecutor Aida Medrano Gonell explained that the accusation, fully accepted by the court, was based on the testimonies of the teenagers and on evidence gathered during the investigation, which confirmed the modus operandi of the accused from his residence in Gurabo. The Third Collegiate Court of Santiago, composed of judges Deyanira Méndez, Kimberly Tatis and Ingrid Liberato, also sentenced Sosa Bencosme to pay 50 minimum wages in the public sector. The defendant was found guilty of violations of several articles of the Dominican Penal Code and laws on gender violence, child protection, and human trafficking, including article 309-1 of the Penal Code, article 410 of Law 136-03, and articles 1 and 3 of Law 137-03, which penalize sexual exploitation and violence against minors.