Jury Gets Case Of Girl Sold For Sex To Pay Owed Rent
Published: May 29th, 2008

Jury gets case of girl sold for sex to pay owed rent

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — A federal court jury began deliberations Wednesday in the case against a woman accused of selling a 12-year-old-girl, and the landlord who accepted her as back rent.

Linda O’Connor, 46, of Norwich, and Dean Sacco, 49, of Jersey City, N.J., are charged with buying a child for sex, sex trafficking of a child, and possessing and producing child pornography for filming encounters with the girl. Sacco also is accused of driving over state lines to have sex with a minor.

If convicted, the pair could be sent to prison for the rest of their lives.

The U.S. District Court jury heard nearly four weeks of testimony.

For both prosecution and defense, the key issue is the credibility of the young girl, now 14 and living in a residential treatment center.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric admitted the girl, who testified for two days, was not a model child. Witnesses testified to several occasions when the girl lied and manipulated others.

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But he suggested she had been turned from an innocent little girl into the person the jury saw because of sexual abuse by O’Connor and from being raped by Sacco.

“They broke her, smashed her and re-glued her.” Lovric said. “How can you be subjected to that and not have fallout? It’s a miracle she’s still alive.”

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