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Former GOP operative, donor gets 21 years on sex trafficking conviction (www.mprnews.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

After a 10-day trial in March, a jury found Lazzaro, 32, guilty of bringing five teenage girls to his apartment in downtown Minneapolis and paying them for sex, in violation of federal sex trafficking laws.

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The charges were federal sex trafficking, because his giving of gifts and large amounts of cash were determined to be payment for sex. It is a federal crime to pay anyone under the age of 18 for sex. The age of consent in Minnesota is 16.

I'm not at all saying the guy isn't a predator, based on other testimony cited in the article:

Castro Medina [18 year old woman who met Lazzaro on a "sugar daddy" site] said that Lazzaro soon asked her to find “broken girls” for him on social media, who were around age 16 and were thin, white and petite. Lazzaro gave Castro Medina around $50,000 in cash and gifts including a car.

But it is important to recognize that the sexual contact itself was perfectly legal in Minnesota. The crime was paying for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Legal ≠ moral or right

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I don't disagree. But it's dangerous to refer to someone as a "pedo" (as the parent commenter did) for legal behavior.

Again, the guy is a predator, no doubt, but the conviction was for trafficking, because of the payment, not for the sexual acts. If you have a problem with any person of any age having sex with a 16 year old in Minnesota, your ire should be directed in much greater measure towards the state of Minnesota, which allows such behavior.