MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for operating a sex trafficking ring involving women he lured from Cuba.
The sentence was imposed by a Miami federal judge Friday on 31-year-old Silvio Clark Morales. Federal prosecutors said in a news release that Morales pleaded guilty in April to six counts of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy.
Court documents show Morales promised six Cuban women work as dancers. Instead, they were forced under threats of violence to work in strip clubs and as prostitutes.
Authorities say Morales drove one victim to an isolated bridge near the Everglades, beat her, and told her he would throw her into the swamp and let alligators eat her. She survived after he put her in his car trunk.
