ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – Federal prosecutors have charged 11 alleged members of the MS-13 street gang with sex trafficking and other charges after they say a 13-year-old runaway was repeatedly beaten with a baseball bat and forced into prostitution in northern Virginia.

Charges were unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria.

An FBI affidavit says the 13-year-old girl ran away from a group home in Fairfax  in August 2018 with a 16-year-old friend who was connected to MS-13.

The 13-year-old was recovered a few months later. She told authorities she was twice beaten on her backside and legs 26 times with a baseball bat and that she could barely walk after the beatings.

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