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Man linked to alleged sex trafficking in Pensacola gets 15 years for possession of child pornography

Man linked to alleged sex trafficking in Pensacola gets 15 years for possession of child pornography

After not pleading as part of a plea deal, a man has been charged with more than a dozen counts in possession of child pornography he was sentenced to 15 years in a Florida prison.

Manuel Ardon-Rodriguez, who voluntarily told law enforcement he entered the United States illegally, was charged with 15 counts of possession of child pornography in July 2023 after agents of the Department of Law Enforcement and Security Investigations Florida State Police searched a home on Cervantes Street that was believed to be. part of a sex trafficking network.

Circuit Judge Coleman Robinson imposed the sentence Thursday afternoon after Rodriguez pleaded no contest to 10 counts. Instead, the Prosecutor’s Office dropped the remaining five charges.

Pensacola Sex Trafficking Case: Alabama mother allegedly sex-trafficked teenage daughter to men in Pensacola

A companion case to Rodriguez involves several people believed to have participated in a sex-trafficking operation involving a 14-year-old girl in Foley, Alabama.

Records show the Alabama girl was allegedly held against her will in Pensacola while Kilman Flores-Ardon, Edwin Martinez-Cruz and Manuel Ardon-Martinez took turns raping her over three days in January 2023.

Charging documents for the three men allege that they “knowingly engage(d) in human trafficking or attempted (have) to engage in human trafficking or benefit financially by receiving something of value from participation … which has subject a person to human trafficking. .”

The state alleges the teenager’s own mother did not report the abuse and may have received payments for the men to rape her daughter.

According to court records, law enforcement apparently discovered the child pornography on Ardon-Rodriguez’s phone during a raid to find suspected sex traffickers. Ardon-Rodriguez has never been charged with any traffic offenses.

Homeland Security personnel noted in their reports that all those involved in the case “appear to be undocumented aliens (UDAs).”

All human trafficking cases remain in the court system and are ongoing. All pleaded not guilty.

This article originally appeared on the Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola traffic linked to man convicted of child pornography