By Jeremy Walsh
The husband−and−wife strippers from Corona who molested two young girls they met online both received prison time Tuesday after pleading guilty to the offenses in November, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Julio Rojas, 32, was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of rape for one instance of forced sexual intercourse in 2006 and a second instance in 2007 in which he had sex with a girl who was intoxicated, Brown said.
His wife, 23−year−old Sophie Soto, was sentenced to between two and six years in prison after pleading guilty to promoting the sexual performance by a child, the DA said. Soto had told one of the girls, who was under the age of 15, to take photos of her genitals and send them to Soto electronically.
The seduction began in late 2006 when Soto, posing as an 18−year−old on the social networking Web site MySpace, enticed one of the victims to come to her apartment. The victim brought along one of her friends, and the two got drunk at the apartment with Soto before Rojas came home and took them all out to a Manhattan strip club, where Soto allegedly brought the girls on stage with her for a sexual performance, Brown said.
“The defendants used the Internet to lure obviously troubled young girls to their apartment where they plied them with liquor and sexually assaulted them,” Brown said in a statement. “The consequences of the assaults forever and profoundly altered the lives of their victims. As such, the prison sentences imposed today will ensure that other youngsters are protected from such sexual predators.”
Both Rojas and Soto will be required to register as sex offenders when they are released, Brown said, noting the judge signed orders of protection for the two young victims that last until 2023 in Soto’s case and 2025 in the case of Rojas.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
