PANAMA CITY — A man who abducted a sex-trafficking witness from Panama City Beach to work in a Mississippi brothel will spend the rest of his life in prison, officials announced Thursday.
Jacobo “Kiko” Feliciano-Francisco, 32, was arrested June 2013 after a distraught woman walked into a police department in Hattiesburg, Miss., and said she had been kidnapped from Panama City Beach. Feliciano-Francisco was arrested and extradited to be tried in the U.S. District Court of Panama City with his victim as a witness against him. He was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for several charges associated with the woman’s abduction and plans to force her back into the sex trade.
“Prosecuting human traffickers is a top priority for this U.S. Attorney’s office and the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney Pamela C. Marsh. “Congress has given us strong laws to go after this heinous crime, which is often difficult to find and prove because traffickers enforce silence among their victims through coercion and violence, as happened in this case.”
The woman had been a witness in a prior human trafficking case after being forced to work as a prostitute between 2009 and 2011. Her testimony led to a total of 13 convictions in Tennessee and Kentucky of various federal sex-trafficking and prostitution criminal charges.
Following her cooperation with law enforcement, the victim and her family were relocated to Panama City Beach out of concern for their safety.
Feliciano-Francisco and others tracked down her location as retaliation. Authorities said the victim was in her yard in Panama City Beach when Feliciano-Francisco and an unidentified man forced her into a car and drove to Feliciano-Francisco’s house in Hattiesburg. Feliciano-Francisco sexually assaulted the woman and planned to force her to work as a prostitute in Louisiana.
However, the kidnapping victim escaped through a bathroom window that evening and went to the Hattiesburg Police Department. Police went to the house and arrested Feliciano-Francisco.
“Despite those threats … the victim showed tremendous bravery in coming forward to help bring this defendant to justice,” Marsh added. “We commend her for her courage and pledge to continue this important fight against this modern form of slavery.”
Feliciano-Francisco was sentenced to life after being convicted of kidnapping, retaliating against a witness, conspiracy, and transportation of an individual in interstate commerce for prostitution.