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Iowa duo sentenced for sex trafficking in Virginia

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August 14th, 2015 by Ric Hanson

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Two Iowa residents will spend decades in prison for forcing a young woman into prostitution and torturing her. Aldair Hodza was sentenced to 41 years and eight months Friday in federal court in Richmond. Laura Sorensen was sentenced to 40 years. The Clive residents held a 20-year-old woman captive on a trip to Virginia and forced her to have sex with men who answered online ads. They burned the woman with lit cigarettes and other heated objects, drove nails into her feet and poured bleach into her wounds.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors are recommending prison terms of 35 years – 11 more than the top end of the sentencing guideline range. But U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson said that wasn’t enough, citing the “unprecedented depravity” in the case.