Second St. Petersburg Youngster Intercourse Trafficker Sentenced To Federal Jail – Division of Justice

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Choose Kathryn Kimball Mizelle has sentenced Leslie Reio (25, St. Petersburg) to eight years in federal jail, to be adopted by 10 years of supervised launch, for partaking within the intercourse trafficking of minor youngsters. Reio was additionally ordered to register as a intercourse offender and to pay restitution to the victims. Reio had pleaded responsible on November 16, 2021.

In response to courtroom paperwork, between March 6 and March 14, 2021, Reio and her co-defendant, Julius Arline, obtained, enticed, and housed two baby victims in a St. Petersburg resort room, forcing them to commit business intercourse acts. The kid victims—14 and 15 years outdated—had been rescued after being compelled to take sexually specific pictures of themselves that had been used as on-line commercials for business intercourse with strangers. The 2 youngsters had been stored within the resort room the place they had been offered unlawful medication and compelled to take part in a lot of intercourse dates over the eight-day interval. After being compelled to have interaction within the intercourse acts and receiving fee, the kid victims had been required to present cash to Arline and Reio.

Arline, the chief of the group, was sentenced on June 8, 2022, to 40 years in federal jail, adopted by a lifetime of supervised launch.

“Predators who maintain youngsters captive in motels and pressure them to commit business intercourse acts are a number of the most vile traffickers,” mentioned HSI Tampa Assistant Particular Agent in Cost Kristopher Pagitt. “HSI, alongside the St. Petersburg Police Division, are dedicated to rescuing baby victims from these actually disturbed people. We won’t relaxation till predators like her are put behind bars and held accountable for their heinous crimes.”

This case was investigated by Homeland Safety Investigations and the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Activity Pressure, with substantial help from St. Petersburg Police Division and the USA Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Legal professional Erin Claire Favorit.

This case was introduced as a part of the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Activity Pressure of the Center District of Florida, which is one among 13 job forces within the nation to obtain grant funding from the Division of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Help. The Activity Pressure is a collaboration of native, state, and federal legislation enforcement brokers working along with organizations to detect, examine, and prosecute human trafficking within the Tampa Bay space. This contains trafficking of minors, compelled labor, transnational intercourse trafficking, and intercourse trafficking of adults by pressure, fraud, or coercion. Extra details about the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Activity Pressure could be discovered at www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/humantrafficking. Data on the Division of Justice’s efforts to fight human trafficking could be discovered at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.