SAN JOSE — A Salinas man has been released from federal custody after prosecutors charged him with arranging to buy two girls, aged 12 and 14, for a “full girlfriend experience” on a prostitution site, court records show.
Edy Antonio Jr., 30, allegedly insisted that “I was trying to do a good deed,” while being arrested in the undercover bust. Antonio was arrested in late April, after allegedly answering an ad for “two pretty lil flowers that are ready to bloom” accompanied by two pictures with a listed age of “99,” according to the criminal complaint.
Antonio has been charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct, which carries a mandatory sentence of 10 years to life in federal prison.
An undercover officer posing as a human trafficker later told Antonio that the girls were 12 and 14, and Antonio subsequently negotiated — and agreed to — a $500 price for an hour with both girls paying an extra $50 so he wouldn’t have to wear a condom, authorities allege. When he showed up to a Starbucks near a hotel for the planned meetup, he was arrested, according to court records.
“The only thing that stopped the defendant from sexually assaulting two minor girls was the fact that the girls were fictional,” prosecutors wrote in a failed motion to keep Antonio behind bars while the case is pending. Instead, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins agreed to release Antonio on an unsecured $50,000 bond, court records show.
Antonio is next due in court on June 3.
After his arrest, Antonio undertook the unpleasant task of calling his “long time romantic partner” and assuring the woman that he was “trying to do a good deed.” The call was recorded from a local jail, authorities said.
“Somebody messaged me…trying to sell me, like, like adolescents, kids, right? So I was like, ‘What the hell?’ So I messaged them back in hoping to like, you know, see if I can get their address and I can call 911, but then when they gave me the address, I went there, and next thing you know, I got (expletive) arrested,” Antonio allegedly explained. “And now they’re charging me for pedophile and all that bulls—.”
But earlier, when authorities asked him point-blank if he was there to buy two girls, Antonio replied, “yeah,” the complaint says. This came after he told the authorities he was on his way to work at a Monterey hospital, where he’s employed as a respiratory therapist, but the investigators pointed out the Starbucks was way out of his logical route.
“I’d just like to say I’m sorry. I can’t take back what I did, but I can learn from it,” Antonio allegedly said during his interview with investigators. “I’m happy it’s not real, that these girls aren’t being sold real, but I know it’s happening out there, especially in the third-world countries.”