Sex Trafficking of a Minor: Fairfax County Resident Faces Maximum Life in Prison

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- Derek Leon Mantilla, 21, a Fairfax County resident, pleaded guilty Tuesday to sex trafficking of a minor. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not say where Mantilla had lived in the county, but he was arrested last fall at a Days Inn in Manassas and is also listed as living in Alexandria.

From November 2014 through February 2015, Mantilla, together with Ismael Antonio Mendez and Caitlyn Ann Smith, recruited a 15 year-old girl to engage in commercial sex acts to pay off a debt that was owed to Mantilla by Mendez, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The adults taught the girl how to prostitute, took photos of her to use in ads and created ads for commercial sex that were posted on the Internet, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release Wednesday.

The three adults knew the girl was a minor and instructed her to lie about her age to customers, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Over a three-month period, the adults traveled with the girl through various states, including Virginia, for the purposes of advertising and engaging the girl in commercial sex. During that period, the girl worked seven days a week and saw an average of 10 to 12 customers a night, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Once the girl had earned enough to pay off the debt, Mantilla directed her to leave the adults, and she did, according to the news release.

Mantilla was arrested last fall at a Days Inn motel in Manassas by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Co-defendants Ismael Antonio Mendez and Caitlyn Ann Smith previously pleaded guilty in the case.

Mantilla faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison when sentenced on July 8, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Dougherty Russell and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Britsch are prosecuting the case.

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