En Fuego Ministry 'Apostle' Sentenced to Life for Child Sex Trafficking

ORLANDO—U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. today sentenced Luis E. Morales (58, Ormond Beach) to life in federal prison for child sex trafficking and transporting children across state lines to engage in sexual activity. The court also ordered Morales to pay more than $35,000 in restitution to the victims of the offenses and to forfeit his interest in the property located at 8 Crossings Trail in Ormond Beach.
Judge Dalton also sentenced Morales’ co-defendant, Rebeca Rivera (28, Hartford, Connecticut) today. Rivera was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for her role in aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of a child and the transportation of a child across state lines to engage in sexual activity. As part of her sentence, Rivera was ordered to pay $31,030 in restitution to the victim of her offenses, to serve 10 years of supervised release, and to register as a sex offender.
Morales and Rivera were convicted on November 5, 2012.
According to evidence presented at trial, Morales was a self-proclaimed “apostle” in a ministry that he founded called En Fuego for Jesus. Rivera was one of his “prophets” in the ministry. In November 2009, Morales transported a 12-year-old ministry member from Florida to Connecticut, knowing that the minor would be caused to engage in a commercial sex act. While in Connecticut, Rivera recruited, encouraged, and enticed the minor to engage in sex acts with Morales. Later in November 2009, Morales transported the minor from Connecticut to Florida with the intent to engage in sexual activity with the minor. In December 2010, Morales transported a 13-year-old member of the ministry from Arizona to Florida, and then to the Virgin Islands, with the intent to engage in sexual activity with that minor.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen L. Gable.
It is another case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”

Priest Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Possessing Pornographic Images of Children

PITTSBURGH—A suspended Catholic priest was sentenced in federal court for violating federal child sexual exploitation laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Bartley Sorensen, 63, was sentenced by United States District Judge Alan N. Bloch to serve 97 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for receiving and possessing thousands of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Sorensen was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
On December 9, 2011, Sorensen was a Catholic priest assigned to Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill, Pennsylvania. On that day, a parish employee observed Sorensen viewing an image on the screen of his computer of a young boy wearing nothing but a shirt. The employee promptly reported what she observed to the Catholic Child Abuse Hotline. Search warrants were thereafter served at the rectory that resulted in the seizure of, among other things, over 100 CDs, most of which were loaded with thousands of images of children being sexually abused, including one that depicted a nude male child with a rope around his genitals and what appeared to be blood on his genitals.
Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.
U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, the Allegheny County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Churchill Police Department for the successful investigation leading to the conviction and sentence in this case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.