Man sentenced to 15 years for attempted sex trafficking

A Hollywood man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to purchase sex with minor girls, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

Ralph Kevin Tovar, 31, responded to multiple advertisements for sex with minor girls posted by federal law enforcement officers between January and May of 2022, before paying an undercover officer $550 to have sex with what he believed would be a 13-year old and a 15-year old girl, prosecutors said. The girls in question did not exist, and Tovar was arrested.

He was charged with two counts of attempted sex trafficking and one count of attempted enticement and coercion of a minor to engage in sexual activity.

Tovar, who worked at a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, pled not guilty to the charges. He told officers that he never intended to have sex with the minor girls, but in fact was planning to save them, according to a motion filed by the prosecution.

In December, a jury convicted Tovar on all counts.

The investigation into Tovar began in January 2022, when he responded to the first of multiple online advertisements for sex with minor girls posted by federal law enforcement officers.

Tovar “initially seemed reticent” when speaking with the undercover detective, according to a motion filed by the prosecution. During the conversation, he said he thought the detective was joking about the girls’ ages, and decided not to go through with it.

“They should do massages or something else but not adult business,” he told the detective.

The detective replied, “I got it — u seem like a real nice guy for real hope u have a good nite and find some company.”

In April, Tovar called the phone number two more times. Then, on May 2, he responded to another advertisement posted by undercover officers. This time, when a detective told him the girl was 14, he said, “ok so how much?”

The detective sent him the address of a hotel. Tovar said he was there, but never showed up.

Finally, on May 6, Tovar responded to a third advertisement posted by undercover officers, prosecutors said. The ad listed the fictional girls’ ages as 21 years because the website requires it. But the detective told him in their conversation that the girls were 15 and 13 years old. Tovar agreed to pay the $550.

Later that night, he met the second undercover detective, posing as the person behind the advertisement, at a hotel in Doral. When Tovar handed her the $550, officers arrested him.

In an interview with officers after his arrest, Tovar said he had planned to alert law enforcement if the girls turned out to be minors, but if they were not, then he would go ahead with the sex acts he had paid for, according to the motion filed by prosecutors.

Tovar was sentenced to 10 years supervised release following his 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 restitution.