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A former Moreno Valley Unified School Board member convicted of 23 felonies, including pimping and pandering, was sentenced on Friday to serve more than 14 years in state prison.
A Riverside Superior Court judge sentenced Mike Luis Rios, 42, to serve 14 years, four months during a hearing on in a Riverside courtroom on Friday. Once Rios has served half the time, he will be eligible for parole.
A jury found Rios guilty on Feb. 8 of 12 counts of pimping, six counts of insurance fraud, and five pandering counts. The jury did not convict him on two rape charges.
Pandering is the attempt to get someone to work as a prostitute while pimping is deriving
proceeds from someone working as a prostitute.
Officials are expected next week to discuss removing Rios from the school board and whether a special election will be held to replace him. He continued to serve as a member, participating in meetings up to and during his trial.
Rios was arrested in the case on April 4, 2012, outside his Moreno Valley home.
He was charged with three counts of pimping and six counts of pandering, accusing him of persuading or encouraging four women and two underage girls to work for him as prostitutes.
Prosecutors said that three adult women worked for Rios as prostitutes. One other adult woman and two juvenile girls who he tried to have work for him as prostitutes did not, prosecutors said.
Rios told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in a phone interview from jail that someone was falsely accusing him of crimes to prevent him from running for Moreno Valley City Council.
The insurance fraud counts involve Rios filing false insurance claims following a vehicle accident.
Rios has another pending case in which he is charged with two counts of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and influencing testimony by bribe.
That case is pending trial and the next court date is for a trial readiness conference on April 12.
