Man admits to taking 14-year-old girl from Kansas to Texas for sex
A Guatemalan man accused of taking a 14-year-old attempted murder suspect from Kansas to Texas to continue a sexual relationship with her faces a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty this week in federal court.
Marcos Jacobo Morales-Jose, 25, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge D. Gordon Bryant on Monday in Lubbock and pleaded guilty via an interpreter to a count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct.
The offense carries a punishment of 10 years to life in prison. However, in exchange for his guilty plea, the government agreed to a 10-year prison sentence.
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Bryant accepted Morales-Jose's plea and filed a recommendation to U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix that the defendant be found guilty and the sentence be imposed.
Bryant told Morales-Jose that if Hendrix rejected the plea deal, he could withdraw his plea and go to trial.
Morales-Jose, a citizen of Guatemala who is a legal permanent resident, admitted to bringing the teenage girl from Dodge City, Kansas to Muleshoe to continue a sexual relationship with her, court documents state.
The girl told forensic interviewers that she met Morales-Jose in September in Dodge City and communicated with him through Facebook. She said Morales-Jose knew that she was 14-years-old and he told her that he was 20, but later admitted he was actually 24.
She told interviewers their relationship became sexual at the end of September and in December, the two had unprotected sex and she became pregnant. In January, the girl, who was out on bond for an attempted murder charge in Dodge City, fled to Muleshoe with Morales-Jose.
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Morales-Jose admitted to staying with a relative in Muleshoe where he continued the sexual relationship with the girl, the documents state.
In January, the girl was reported missing and police in Dodge City learned that she could be in Muleshoe. Muleshoe police traveled to a residence where they believed the girl was staying and found her and Morales-Jose, who was arrested and booked into the Bailey County Jail where he remains.
A sentencing hearing has not yet been set in the case.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man faces prison time for bringing 14-year-old girl to Texas for sex
