Bob Menendez Underage Prostitution Scandal Barely Being Reported By Mainstream Media

Last month it was revealed that Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) hired a registered sex offender turned illegal alien sex offender as an intern. It was also revealed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security delayed the arrest of the intern until after election day Another scandal is materializing for the former private practice attorney who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's Issues: The Daily Caller alleges that Menendez had sex with underage prostitutes on several visits to the Dominican Republic from 2009 to 2012.

The research director at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) in Washington, Carrie Levine, is said to have received information from an unnamed source regarding the senator’s alleged dalliances with prostitutes as young as 16. Levine apparently shared this information with ABC News senior investigative producer Rhonda Schwartz in May 2012, but ABC News did not break the story, and, as of January 28, 2013, I was unable to find any article about the allegations on abcnews.com. Instead the Daily Caller broke the initial version of the story on November 1, 2012. The story is gaining greater headway of late because Daily Caller published a follow-up on January 25, 2013 asserting that the FBI is investigating the allegations against Menendez with a slew of FBI emails published as pictorial evidence.

According to the Daily Caller, CREW asked the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the allegations on July 17, 2012. Additionally, the original source, a “Mr. Williams,” apparently shared the information with an FBI Special Agent in Miami on September 11, 2012.

A Miami-based eye doctor, who also donated to Menendez’s campaigns, is said to have provided the corporate plane he owns for the excursions to and from the Dominican Republic, and also to have accompanied the senator. It is unclear whether the FBI may also be investigating the doctor.

Though prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, third parties are prohibited from soliciting prostitution services, and sex between an adult and a person under the age of 18 is illegal. Sex scandals between Dominican prostitutes and state leaders are nothing new, as one Dominican prostitute was involved in ex-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s sex embroilment, and others were involved with Slovenian leaders. Sadly, the Dominican Republic has a child prostitution problem, with approximately 25,455 minors acting as prostitutes.

The foremost question is: Did Menendez have sexual relations with prostitutes who were underage at the time, whether knowingly or unknowingly?

If the allegations are proven, another question that should be posed is, Did Menendez use taxpayer money to fund his illicit trips?

In other possible evidence, two Dominican prostitutes claimed they had sex with Menendez during an interview recorded by former Daily Caller (and now Breitbart) reporter Matthew Boyle. Reminiscent of the 2012 Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, both women asserted that the senator cheated them out of money.

The investigation into the Secret Service scandal in Colombia reportedly cost taxpayers $1.5 million, according to Fox News. The Menendez prostitute scandal may be less consequential, and, unlike the Secret Service officers, the senator may have traveled to the Dominican Republic on his own time and money. Regardless, the investigation itself will likely cost taxpayers.

Menendez appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, where guest host Martha Raddatz avoided the matter entirely.