Any Garland Defenders Watching Rachel

[speak easy]

68. It is a Federal Felony offense if [a minor] is trafficked.

Act 18 U.S.C. § 1591, or the Commercial Sex Act, the US makes it illegal to recruit, entice, obtain, provide, move or harbor a person or to benefit from such activities knowing that the person will be caused to engage in commercial sex acts where the person is under 18 or where force, fraud or coercion exists

The person who could establish that Gaetz knew she was trafficked was Joel Greenberg a criminal who ran a prostitution service. The DOJ apparently considered him to be an unreliable witness. The case is not clear cut.

Joel Greenberg, former tax collector for Seminole County, was accused of stalking a political opponent, public corruption, making fake licenses and scheming to submit false claims for a federal loan.

He pleaded guilty to six federal crimes, including identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Prosecutors said he paid at least one girl to have sex with him and other men.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joel-greenberg-sentenced-sex-crimes-freind-matt-gaetz/

Even if Gaetz could be pinned down on paying the Girl for sex (not a Federal offence, his defense would be that he had no reason to believe the girl was a minor