Puerto Rico News Digest For December 10, 2018

ARREST WARRANT SOUGHT FOR PEDOPHILE TEACHER

The federal probations office has asked the Department of Justice to issue an arrest warrant for former teacher Yaira Cotto Flores, who earlier this year was found guilty of having sexual relations with a 14-year-old student in 2016. She began communicating online with the student in 2015, and early the following year took him to a motel, where they had intercourse.

Cotto Flores was due to turn herself in to the federal Bureau of Prisons today so that she could start serving her 10-year prison sentence in Alabama, which would be followed by 8 years of probation. The teacher has failed to turn herself in on more than one occasion, and according to her husband, she has been seeking mental health treatment.

ROSSELLO NOT SAYING HOW HE'S PAYING FOR BONUS

From El Nuevo Dia:

"Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares said that the Christmas bonus to public employees will not threaten the government payroll spend during the last months of the fiscal year. However, the  governor offered little or no information regarding the "savings" that his administration reached to offset this $ 85.3 million disbursement..."

NO PROBABLE CAUSE AGAINST WANDA VAZQUEZ

From The San Juan Daily Star:

"In an unprecedented process, First Instance Court Judge Yazdel Ramos late Friday dismissed all three charges presented by the Independent Special Prosecutor Panel (PFEI, its Spanish acronym) against Secretary of Justice Wanda Vázquez, indicating the evidence presented did not show probable cause for arrest..."

PR HOUSE TO REQUEST JONES ACT EXEMPTION

From Caribbean Business:

"Puerto Rico Rep. José Aponte Hernández will ask the new U.S. Congress to study a request made this weekend by the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), that Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska be permanently exempted from the cabotage law known as the Jones Act..."

Man Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Children

US Attorney's Office
San Juan
Press Release

SAN JUAN, P.R. – United States District Court Judge Francisco A. Be-
sosa sentenced José Luis Otero-Otero to 210 months (17 years and 6 mo-
nths) in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for sex traffick-
ing of children, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States
Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. Otero-Otero had plead guilty on
November 4, 2016.

According to the Plea Agreement filed on November of 2016, the defen-
dant sexually abused and/or engaged in illicit sexually explicit conduct
with at least four male minors. Otero-Otero knowingly recruited, enticed,
harbored, transported, provided, obtained, advertised, maintained, patro-
nized and solicited by any means two 12 year-olds, one thirteen and one
fourteen year-old male minors, knowing and in reckless disregard of the
fact that they were minors and caused them to engage in commercial sex
act.

The Government’s version of facts states that the defendant paid the male
minors between twenty and eighty dollars to engage in sexual acts. Otero-
Otero paid the victims in order for them to allow him to perform oral sex
on them and also for the minor males to penetrate Otero-Otero anally.

“Justice was done today. This sentence should serve to reassure the pu-
blic that we are paying close attention to the well-being of our children,
and that we will spare no expense to take child predators off the streets,”
said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. “All child sexual pre-
dators will be held accountable for the unspeakable crimes they commit
and the harm they cause to their victims and their families.”

Project Safe Childhood is an initiative of the Department of Justice aim-
ed at preventing the abuse and exploitation of children by the use of digi-
tal cameras, computers and other digital and electronic media.

The criminal prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elba
Gorbea. ICE-HSI was in charge of the investigation with the collaborati-
on of the Puerto Rico Police Department.

Puerto Rico News Digest For June 19, 2015

FBI ARRESTS FOUR FOR CHIILD PORN

As reported today by El Nuevo Dia, FBI agents in Puerto Rico are serving
four arrest warrants in different parts of the island this morning, all related
to the production and distribution of child pornography. The arrests, which
are being carried out in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Police, are taking
place in the cities of Aguadilla, San Juan, Quebradillas and Carolina. Once
the suspects are detained, they wil be taken to Federal Court in San Juan.

POLICE: PUERTO RICO HOMICIDES DOWN

From The San Juan Daily Star:

At a period almost halfway through the calendar year, the Police Department
of Puerto Rico has reported 249 murders for the year to date, less than half
compared to the same time four years ago. This would  indicate that while
homicide is being checked, as Police note, the island rate is still considerably
higher than any mainland city or state, while still trailing many Caribbean
and Central American cities in deadliness quotient.And while Puerto Rico
has a rate of 30.1 murders per 100,000 people, officials estimate that about
60 percent of homicides on the island are linked to drug trafficking. The to-
tal number of killings between June 13, 2011 and June 13, 2015 decreased
by 261, according to a written communication from the Police Department
released this week.

PR EX-PRIEST GETS 11 YEARS FOR SEX ABUSE

From San Diego Union-Tribune:

A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in pri-
son for taking a teenage boy on a cruise ship vacation with the intent to en-
gage in illegal sexual conduct. The U.S. Attorney's Office on the U.S. Cari-
bbean island announced the sentencing of expelled priest Israel Berrios, who
had pleaded guilty in August 2014. Prosecutors accused Berrios of giving the
15-year-old boy money, a computer and a camera and taking him on a four-
day cruise to the Bahamas with his mother's permission in July 2008.

DON YOUNG RAISES FUNDS BEFORE PR HEARINGS

From Politico:

Alaska Republican Don Young is holding a fundraiser in Puerto Rico Friday,
just days before he chairs a controversial hearing on the territory’s political
and economic status. The close proximity of the hearing and the fundraising
event has sparked ethical concerns among some of Young’s colleagues on a
Natural Resources subcommittee, but committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-
Utah) told POLITICO that Young is free to set his own schedule. Young’s
fundraiser at a San Juan restaurant is hosted by Igualdad Futuro Seguro, a
pro-statehood political action committee.

PREPA GETS ANOTHER EXTENSION

From Caribbean Business:

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) and its creditors entered
Thursday into yet another forbearance agreement extension, until June 30,
while they continue to hammer out consensus on a restructuring plan for the
financially troubled utility that would keep it away from a potential default
and court-mandated receivership. Although prior negotiations to further ex-
tend the grace period have usually lasted until the last minute, CARIBBEAN
BUSINESS sources on Wall Street had said both sides were closing in on an
additional extension to the forbearance period until the end of the month.

WATER RESERVOIR LEVELS FOR THIS MORNING

From AcueductosPR.Com:

Levels for Carraizo and La Plata are down again, after recent rains failed to
raise water levels at either reservoir. Cidra is down as well. 48-hour rationing
continues for users in the Carraizo zones and 24-hour rationing is in effect for
users in the La Plata zones.