An 18-year-old Lincoln man who is already incarcerated at the state's Youth Correctional Facility was charged last week for allegedly sex-trafficking a teenage girl when he was a minor himself.Â
The new charge against Alessandro Mendez is the result of a Lincoln Police Department investigation that started more than 14 months ago, when Mendez was 17, according to the affidavit for his arrest.Â
Mendez
A 15-year-old girl, who was found to be riding in an SUV with Mendez and two other men in December 2020, told investigators she had met Mendez on a chance encounter at a gas station before he brought her to an apartment near 56th and Holdrege streets, according to the affidavit.
The girl said adult men paid Mendez so they could have sex with her at the apartment — as well as in Grand Island and elsewhere in Lincoln.
Investigators also found videos on Mendez's phone of the girl performing sexual acts with adult men, along with text conversations where Mendez negotiated payments for the act.
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Mendez, who in September was convicted of second-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony for his role in a November 2020 robbery, was charged Jan. 10 with sex-trafficking of a minor.
He remains at the Nebraska Youth Correctional Facility.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @andrewwegley
Andrew Wegley
State government reporter
