MIAMI, Sept 24 (AFP) - A child pornographer who taped himself molesting children in Latin America while carrying the AIDS virus was sentenced to 100 years in prison, US authorities announced Friday.
"For years, the defendant inflicted despicable harm on young, innocent victims," said Marcos Daniel Jimenez, US prosecutor for southern Florida.
"Predators of this type are now on notice that their horrible crimes will be severely punished."
Angel Rafael Mariscal got 100 years in prison for sexually abusing children so that he could make and sell child pornography.
He was convicted in a two-day trial that began April 12. Prosecutors said he traveled repeatedly to Ecuador and to Cuba, where he filmed the pornography and videotaped himself sexually abusing minors, some under the age of twelve, over a seven-year period.
More than 100 victims were filmed exposing their genitals or engaging in sexual activity with Mariscal.
Prosecutors said the US Interests Section in Havana was able to obtain birth certificates from Cuban authorities, prosecutors said in a statement.
Prosecutors also offered evidence at the sentencing hearing Friday that Mariscal had engaged in sexual acts with the children while knowing that he carried HIV, which causes AIDS, since 1994. However, none of the children had contracted the disease.
Mariscal sold the child pornography for between 595 and 995 dollars per videotape and DVD, prosecutors said.
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