GOP Donor Gets 21 Years for Trafficking Minors

From AP:

"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A formerly well-connected GOP donor convicted of giving teenage girls gifts, alcohol and money in exchange for sex was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in prison on sex trafficking charges.

Anton “Tony” Lazzaro was found guilty in March by a federal jury of seven counts involving “commercial sex acts” with five girls ages 15 and 16 in 2020, when Lazzaro was 30. The charges carried mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years with a maximum of life in prison.

Prosecutors had requested a 30-year sentence for Lazzaro."

...

"Lazzaro’s indictment in 2021 touched off a political firestorm that led to the downfall of Jennifer Carnahan as chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota."

I really wish that sexual assault could stop being politicized.  I wish we were people who get harmed, and not improvised explosive devices for every agenda everyone has.

"His co-defendant, Gisela Castro Medina, who was 19 at the time, formerly led the College Republicans chapter at the University of St. Thomas. She pleaded guilty to two counts last year. She testified against Lazzaro and faces sentencing in September.

Prosecutors argued during his trial that Lazzaro enlisted Castro Medina, who he initially paid for sex, to recruit other teenagers — preferably minors — who were white, small, vulnerable or “broken.” He often sent cars to take the girls to his luxury penthouse condo at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, they said."

It's very classic for guys like him to seek out vulnerable, "broken" girls from bad families. The fact that he also liked them physically small is just a tribute to his personal heroism.  There's nothing surprising about any of that.  I don't know how he will get his brows sculpted in prison.  Really sad for him.