ATLANTA -- A man was convicted in federal court in Atlanta on Tuesday for bringing young women into the United States from Mexico and forcing them into prostitution, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

36-year-old Amador Cortes-Meza faces life in prison for sex trafficking and human smuggling, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Cortes-Meza would beat the women and threaten to harm them and their families, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

“This defendant preyed on the most vulnerable of victims--girls and young women hoping for a better life-- through promises of jobs or marriage. He then physically abused them, enslaved them, and forced them into prostitution,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.

Read more about Cortes-Meza's conviction at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.