Alexander Rivas, 18, has been charged with running a prostitution ring involving underage girls. Rivas, a member of the MS-13 gang, allegedly transported teenage girls who had run away from their homes into the D.C. area to work as prostitutes. A 17-year-old girl involved in the prostitution ring reported to investigators that Rivas would carry a machete, which he called “his wife,” with him when he took her to prostitution appointments. Federal prosecutors say that he got his customers from men who would come to his apartment to buy beer. Rivas has been charged with sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion. Sex trafficking is usually levied as a charge when a person is brought across state lines as a part of the sex trade industry.