McHenry man guilty of pimping 13-year-old

A McHenry man faces up to 15 years in prison after a jury took just 30 minutes Wednesday to find him guilty of allegations he sold his little sister's 13-year-old friend into prostitution.

Josue Gomez, 18, was convicted of juvenile pimping stemming from allegations he arranged for the girl to have sex with adult men on as many as four occasions in September at McHenry homes and a Johnsburg motel.

The girl, now 14, testified Tuesday she actually had sex during only one of the encounters. In the other incidents, she testified, she would cry and tell the men her age to avoid having sex.

Gomez bowed his head and began crying after Judge Sharon Prather read the verdict. He will remain in custody at the McHenry County jail pending his March 5 sentencing when he faces four to 15 years in prison or probation.

The verdict ended a two-day trial in which county prosecutors portrayed Gomez as a callous "businessman" who decided to make the 13-year-old girl his product. Charges alleged Gomez made $40 for his efforts.

"He didn't care about her," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Michael Combs said in Wednesday's closing arguments. "He saw her as a dollar figure. He saw her as a means to an end."

Gomez did not testify in his defense. In a videotaped statement to McHenry police last year, he denied arranging the encounters, but admitted going along on them as "muscle" for another man pimping the girl.

His defense attorney, Margi Worth, urged jurors in her closing argument to consider the conflicting accounts the girl offered in various statements to police as well as claims she made that were not corroborated by other evidence.

"This case is riddled by doubt based on the holes in this investigation," Worth said. "There are too many holes here."

Besides leading to a possible prison term, the conviction also likely dashes Gomez' hopes of becoming a legal resident or citizen of the United States. Both his parents are in the country legally, Worth said, and Gomez was working toward gaining legal status when arrested last year.

The man accused of having sex with the girl, 21-year-old Pablo de Jesus Julio-Aguirre, of McHenry, is wanted on a charge of patronizing a juvenile prostitute.