In the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, under 30 miles from where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer comfortably work, an MS-13 illegal alien gang associate has been charged with paying fellow gang leaders $100 to have sex with a 14-year-old and then filming it to blackmail her into performing other illicit services for the gang.

ABC7’s Kevin Lewis reports that 52-year-old Felix Silva-Zuniga has been arrested on charges of secretly filming the encounter with the 14-year-old girl where he paid other gang leaders $100 to have sex with her and then used the film as blackmail to force her to engage in more illicit activities:

NEW: This 'MS-13 associate' paid gang leaders $100 to have sex with a 14yo girl, and then secretly filmed the encounter, MoCo police say. 52yo Felix Silva-Zuniga allegedly used that video to blackmail the teen for more sex. It happened inside of a home near Wheaton High School. pic.twitter.com/S1iprjuwxt — Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) January 11, 2019

The incident reportedly took place in a home near Wheaton High School, which is less than 30 miles away from the U.S. Capitol building, in the Maryland suburb of Wheaton just outside of Washington, DC.

According to detectives, the girl was also a waitress at a local restaurant, and gang leaders allegedly used their hold over her to turn the restaurant into a front for drugs and alcohol:

MORE: Detectives say the 14yo girl worked as a waitress at Lilly’s Restaurant in downtown Wheaton. There she would "conduct cocaine and marijuana sales, and serve alcohol to customers,” a high-ranking MS-13 member would later reveal. "A lot of money was made for her services.” pic.twitter.com/Z3DDTBFeLZ — Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) January 11, 2019

When the girl tried to quit and break free from the hold that the MS-13 gang members had over her, they summoned her to a home in Kensington, Maryland, where they beat her more than 25 times with a baseball bat to continue her subservience to the criminal elements:

MORE: At one point, the 14yo girl attempted to quit. She was later summoned to a home in Kensington, Md. and beaten with a baseball bat. The girl recalled 25+ blows to her body. Such attacks were used as a form of “motivation” to keep girls in line, the same MS-13 member said. pic.twitter.com/67UBRIO0Jh — Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) January 11, 2019

Police found Silva-Zuniga outside a Home Depot seeking illegal work. He reportedly confessed to having sex with the underage girl, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials identify him as a Honduran native who is in the United States illegally:

MORE: MoCo Police found Silva-Zuniga outside the Home Depot in Aspen Hill, Md. looking for day work. He handed officers his CASA membership ID card, and reportedly confessed to having sex with the girl. ICE says Silva-Zuniga is a Honduran native living in the U.S. illegally. pic.twitter.com/b2AmGb47mg — Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) January 11, 2019

Police said many more underage girls are currently missing and being forced by criminal gangs like MS-13 into the sex trade–and that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many of them have been reported missing by family members, and they are often “brainwashed” by MS-13 into believing they must live that lifestyle:

MORE: On MS-13 human trafficking: "Many of the victims are under the age of 18 and have been reported by their families as missing persons,” police wrote in court documents. “Often, these females are brainwashed into believing that they need to depend on the gang for survival.” pic.twitter.com/dyA9nuvhVI — Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) January 11, 2019

The incident apparently happened in August 2017. From the local ABC7 news report:

One evening in August 2017, the teenage victim, fellow cocktail waitresses and MS-13 members walked a few blocks from Lilly’s Restaurant to Umberto’s Night Club to enjoy some music and dancing. The victim recalled MS-13 member Willian Benavides-Pena coerce her to flirt with an older-looking man named Felix. As the night winded down, Benavides-Pena ordered the victim go home with Felix. “I know you don’t want to do it, but I need this, this man has a lot of money and I need you to do me a favor,” the victim recalled Benavides-Pena [told] her, knowing full well she was being pawned in exchange for drugs and/or cash. The victim told police she got into a taxi with Felix, strictly due to fear of otherwise getting beaten again with a baseball bat. The cab dropped the duo off at a home along Bluhill Road, directly across the street from Wheaton High School.

The local news reported that the victim said when they got home, Silva-Zuniga led her into a basement bedroom–and she told him she was only 14.

“Yet, Felix reportedly told the teen to ‘just get comfortable’ and then had sexual intercourse with her,” ABC7’s Lewis wrote. “The victim described Felix as having grayish-brown hair and a beer belly. ‘He was like a grandpa,’ she stated. As the victim prepared to leave the house along Bluhill Road, Felix allegedly confessed that he had recorded video of their sexual encounter and would leak that video if she did not continue to meet him on lonely nights moving forward.”

According to the report, Silva-Zuniga made her have sex with him six more times as a result of the video–and he even showed up for her 15th birthday party at the diner where she works. But she reportedly cut him off in November 2017 when police arrested a group of MS-13 members on involvement in a check-cashing business heist. Among those arrested was local MS-13 kingpin, 24-year-old Miguel Ayala-Rivera, whom confidential informants and text messages demonstrate was behind ordering baseball bat beatings of young girls who did not comply with MS-13 demands.

The girl cut Felix off only after Montgomery County Police arrested a contingent of MS-13 members in November 2017, for their involvement in a rash of check-cashing business heists. Miguel Ayala-Rivera, 24, was among those booked on multiple counts of armed robbery and assault.

“Numerous confidential sources labeled Ayala-Rivera a local MS-13 kingpin who, among other things, made a habit of pimping out underage girls,” ABC7’s Lewis wrote. “A search of Ayala-Rivera’s cell phone uncovered text messages ordering baseball bat beatings against girls who had been deemed as disobedient. It was around this time that Montgomery County Police convinced the girl to confide in them, and in turn, help craft a robust criminal case to deconstruct MS-13 in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. She took them up on the offer.”

The fact that this is happening in the shadow of the nation’s capital, less than a half hour from the U.S. Capitol building, is shocking. These latest developments come as Democrats continue to refuse to provide the votes for President Donald Trump’s planned wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. As of Friday, the government has been partially shut down for 21 days–three weeks exactly–the longest shutdown in the history of government. President Trump insists that to reopen the government, the Democrats must agree to fund a border wall and other border security and immigration enforcement measures. Democrats are refusing to provide anything to secure the border with any barrier.