MS-13 gang members in Virginia charged with sexual exploitation, physical abuse of a minor

Federal prosecutors have charged 11 alleged members and associates of the MS-13 street gang with sex trafficking.

The charges were filed after authorities found a 13-year-old girl who ran away from a group home in Northern Virginia, according to USA Today.

MS-13 was originally formed in Los Angeles in the 1970s to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the U.S.

The recent charges were unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

The 48-page FBI affidavit reportedly states the girl ran away from a youth home in 2018 and stayed at the house of a friend who was connected to MS-13. A child trafficking task force found the girl nearly two months later at an apartment in Mount Rainier, Md. 

The teen was beaten 26 times with a bat, according to court documents, and then sold to numerous gang members and other customers in Maryland in exchange for cash.

"Sex traffickers often prey upon the most vulnerable victims in our society, and when combined with the horrific abuses of a gang like MS-13, the effects can be devastating," said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Terwilliger declined to comment on the immigration status of the 11 defendants, saying he expected it would be revealed in court. The next hearing for the case is set for Friday.