PORTLAND — A local man and woman were sentenced to nine years in federal prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to transporting a 13-year-old girl to work as a prostitute.

Shawna Calhoun, 25, of Lewiston and Alvin Houston, 28, of Auburn admitted at a hearing in U.S. District Court in July to the charge of transporting the girl with the intent to engage her in prostitution. According to court records, in late 2014, police found Calhoun and Houston in a Bangor motel while searching for a missing girl.

On Dec. 23, 2014, according to court records, the pair had arranged to rent a car in Maine. On the same day, Houston drove Calhoun and a 13-year-old girl from Maine to Boston, where they stayed with Calhoun’s family.

While in Boston, Calhoun and Houston drove the 13-year-old girl to various hotels in the Boston area to engage in prostitution, prosecutors said.

On Dec. 30, 2014, prosecutors said, Calhoun and Houston learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking for the girl. They drove her in a rental car back to Maine and ultimately to Bangor, where the girl again engaged in prostitution.

Early on New Year’s Eve 2014, Calhoun and Houston drove the girl to a hotel in the Bangor area so she could meet with a client for the purpose of prostitution, prosecutors said. The purported “client” was a law enforcement officer. Calhoun and Houston were arrested in the parking lot, where they were waiting in the rental car.

The prostitution case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Homeland Security Investigations Human Trafficking Task Force, the Lisbon and Bangor police departments and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

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