West Palm Beach Sex Tourism Trial Begins Today

Jorge Muentes booked a trip to Costa Rica to visit a teen prostitute or so he thought in November. Instead Muentes booked through the F.B.I. and got busted. The West Palm Beach man goes on trial today.

Muentes, 48, thought he was going through a travel agency when he booked a trip to Costa Rica but the agency was run by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. He was arrested on Nov. 15 when federal authorities nabbed him at Miami International Airport when he tried to take his flight to San Jose. Since 2003 70 people have been charged with crimes heading off for a sexual tourism trip that they had hoped involved underage prostitutes. Lawyers for those arrested say that there wasn't a crime committed but law enforcement officials say that they are protecting minors from sexual predators.

I'm all for catching child predators," Muentes' lawyer, David O. Markus, wrote in a brief. "The problem is instead of netting the real criminals, this sting draws in innocent people like Jorge Muentes."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Rashbaum says Muentes wasn't so innocent. He paid for the trip hoping to have a sexual contact with a teenager. By boarding the plane it showed he had intent to do just that. If Muentes is convicted he could face a mandatory 10 year prison sentence.