(Photo by Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Two Venezuelan nationals living illegally in the United States have been sentenced to a combined 32 years in federal prison for the multi-state sex trafficking of a 16-year-old undocumented orphan.
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Nelson Adrian Perez-Martinez, 23, was sentenced Monday to 20 years (240 months) in federal prison followed by lifetime supervised release. On Tuesday, his co-defendant, 21-year-old Giannys Alexandra Ramirez-Fernandez, was sentenced to 12.5 years (150 months) in prison.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery handed down the sentences in a San Antonio federal court.
Sex trafficking in Texas
The backstory:
According to federal court documents and trial evidence, the conspiracy targeted a 16-year-old Venezuelan orphan who was living with adoptive parents in Colombia. Ramirez-Fernandez, who was 17 at the time, entered into a relationship with the victim when the minor was 13 years old. Ramirez-Fernandez and the victim crossed illegally into the United States in December 2022, and were joined a year later by Perez-Martinez.
Prosecutors proved the defendants transported the teenager from Richmond, Kentucky, to San Antonio for the explicit purpose of commercial sex.
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During a two-week period in July 2024, Perez-Martinez and Ramirez-Fernandez moved the minor across approximately six different motels in the San Antonio area, sharing a single room at each location. The defendants paid for the lodging in cash using proceeds derived from forcing the child into prostitution.
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The operation was dismantled on July 30, 2024, when an undercover officer with the San Antonio Police Department’s Human Exploitation Unit responded to an online escort advertisement. Posing as a customer, the officer was directed to a Studio 6 motel on Pasteur Court. Once inside the room, the minor agreed to perform sexual services for a fee, prompting the officer to signal an arrest team.
Perez-Martinez and Ramirez-Fernandez were arrested simultaneously outside the room, where they were acting as lookouts and spotters for the illicit operation.
Ramirez-Fernandez pleaded guilty in September 2025 to charges including conspiracy and aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of children.
Perez-Martinez maintained his innocence through an initial trial that ended in a hung jury, but a federal jury ultimately convicted him on all counts during a second trial in February 2026.
What they’re saying:
“We will not abide illegal aliens who come to this country, take advantage of our many freedoms, and then enrich themselves to the detriment of others,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “The illegal alien defendants in this case sought to enrich themselves to the detriment of a child by forcing that child to engage in sex with adult men, and now they’re getting paid exactly what they’re owed: decades in prison.”
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