Updated at 5 p.m. Thursday: A Silver Spring man, who prosecutors said sexually assaulted a teenage girl after a gang forced her to work for them, was convicted of three sex-related charges after a three-day Circuit Court trial this week, the county prosecutor’s office announced.
Felix Zuniga, 53, of 10706 Edgewood Ave., was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Judge John Maloney. Prosecutors said the same-day sentencing was somewhat unusual.
Zuniga was found guilty of one count of a third-degree sex offense, one count of solicitation of sex with a minor and one count of prostitution. He was found not guilty of an additional count of a third-degree sex offense, prosecutors said.
Court documents stated the girl had been forced to work for members of the Pinos Locos clique of MS-13.
A member of the street gang, known for its violence, arranged for Zuniga to have sex with the 14-year-old in August 2017.
Zuniga was arrested July 13 and has been held in the county jail.
“Men like you create a market for MS-13 to traffic young girls,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in a statement. “We need to eliminate this incentive by incarcerating men who would prey on young vulnerable victims.”
Defense attorney Kathleen Dolan, of Kennedy & Dolan, said the state had agreed to avoid mention of gang activity but “reneged on the promise.” Dolan said Zuniga had no connection to MS-13 and her client was being made the “fall guy” for the gang.
When asked about plans for an appeal, Dolan said she would be “filing all kinds of interesting stuff.”
Montgomery County State’s Attorney spokesman Ramón Korionoff said the prosecution acted in an “ethical, by-the-book manner” and the state stands by the outcome of the case.
