ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An Ashburn, Virginia man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of sex tourism and sex trafficking.
Eric Noe Araujo Flores also has to pay $40,000 in restitution to his victim.
According to court documents and trial testimony, he was introduced to a 14-year-old girl in his native El Salvador who wanted to escape gangs that were threatening her and her mother.
Araujo Flores gave them financial help, arranged to get them into the U.S. illegally and let them stay in a home he owned in Sterling as long as the girl had sex with him.
Before that happened, Araujo Flores made several trips to El Salvador to have sex with the girl and give her and her family money and jewelry, according to court documents.
Once the girl was on American soil and said she didn’t want to have sex anymore, Araujo Flores threatened to take away his support and kick them out of his house.
He also threatened violence and to have them deported.
In February, a federal jury convicted Araujo Flores of nine offenses, including four counts of sex trafficking of a child and three counts of foreign travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, which is also known as sex tourism.
