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"Sex Tourist" Goes On Trial In Ft. Lauderdale

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Mar 16, 2008 11:02 am US/Eastern

"Sex Tourist" Goes On Trial In Ft. Lauderdale

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― A West Palm Beach man accused of booking a trip to Costa Rica so he could have sex with a teenage prostitute will go on trial this week in Ft. Lauderdale.

Forty-eight-year-old Jorge Muentes was arrested during a federal crackdown on so called sex tourists who book trips with the express purpose of having sex with a minor outside the United States. Muentes, who booked his trip through a fake travel agency set up by the FBI, was taken into custody when he attempted to board his flight from Miami International Airport to San Jose last November.

Muentes' attorney plans to argue that the FBI entrapped his client.

"I'm all for catching child predators," David O. Markus, Muentes' attorney wrote in a brief. "The problem is instead of netting the real criminals this sting draws in innocent people like Jorge Muentes."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Rashbaum said Muentes took concrete steps toward having sexual contact with a teenager by paying for the trip and attempting to board a plane.

Markus counters that even if Muentes considered having sex with a teen, there's no evidence he would have acted on that desire once he landed in Costa Rica.

If convicted, Muentes faces a mandatory 10-year sentence.

Federal officials say in the last five years, they've arrested more than 70 individuals who traveled to countries like Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and Costa Rica for the purpose of having sex with minors.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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