Man sentenced to a year in jail for hiring a 17-year-old prostitute

Published 11:49 am Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Dexter man convicted Friday of hiring a prostitute in May is also accused of using a fraudulent name to work illegally in the U.S.

Catalino Hernandez-Rojas, 23, was sentenced to 365 days in jail by judge Fred Wellmann for hiring a 17-year-old prostitute and taking her to the Sterling Motel on May 24.

During that incident, the girl allegedly stole his shorts — which were holding $400 cash and a wedding ring — while he was putting on a condom, then fled with another woman in a vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.

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However, Hernandez-Rojas could be in more trouble for the identity he was allegedly using at the time. Charges were first filed against a “Carlos Lennin Batista-Quintana” in the prostitution case, but while conducting a pre-sentence investigation in March, an officer discovered that the real Batista-Quintana passed away in early 2009.

After some questioning, Hernandez-Rojas admitted that he was a Mexican citizen who had assumed the false identity about four or five years ago, the complaint states.

He said he used Batista-Quintana’s birth certificate and Social Security card to get Minnesota identification, which he parlayed into a job at Albert Lea Select foods.

Records also indicate that Hernandez-Rojas was previously deported in August 2004.

He is slated to appear in court again on the felony forgery charges April 5.