Chef Gets 10 Years For
Seeking Sex With
Underage Girl In Costa
Rica
By Vanessa Blum, South
Florida Sun-Sentinel
He arranged to have sex
with a teenage
prostitute in Costa
Rica, only to learn the
smooth-talking salesman
booking his trip was an
undercover detective
working for the FBI.
For Jorge Muentes, 48, a
West Palm Beach resident
with no criminal record
and no history of child
abuse, it would be a
very costly lesson.
On Thursday, a Fort
Lauderdale federal judge
sentenced Muentes to10
years in prison for
attempting to cause a
minor to engage in
prostitution and trying
to travel for sex with a
minor.
Though Muentes was
arrested at Miami
International Airport
before he could follow
through on his alleged
plans, U.S. District
Judge James Cohn said he
was bound to impose the
mandatory-minimum prison
term of 10 years.
"That's the way our
system works, whether we
like it or not," Cohn
said.
At his trial in March,
the husband and father
insisted he was
entrapped and never
intended to have sex
with a teenager. Before
his sentencing, he asked
Cohn for a second
chance.
"I love my country," he
said. "I've never been
in trouble in my entire
life."
Muentes worked as a chef
and butler in wealthy
South Florida homes,
including former Palm
Beach Mayor Lesly
Smith's.
In September 2007,
Muentes contacted Latin
American Pleasure Tours,
a phony travel agency
the FBI ran. Muentes'
calls were routed to the
FBI's Miami headquarters
and answered by Richard
Love, a retired Fort
Lauderdale police
detective who posed as
the agency's owner.
Muentes ultimately paid
$1,675 for air travel to
Costa Rica, a hotel
suite and 24 hours of
sexual services.
In their first
conversation, Love told
Muentes he could hire a
prostitute between 14
and 27 years old.
"Let's go young ... very
young," Muentes said.
Love suggested a 14- to
16-year-old and Muentes
agreed.
"That was a huge
mistake," Cohn told
Muentes at Thursday's
hearing.
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