A Sylmar woman was sentenced today to five years in state prison for forcing a young girl smuggled from El Salvador to work for her for two years, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office announced.

Dora Alicia Valle, 52, pleaded no contest last July to one felony count each of human trafficking and slavery in case BA423675 in an open plea before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Edmund Clarke Jr. An open plea means there was no offer from prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorney Paul Kim with the Organized Crime Division said Valle paid to have the girl, who was 8 years old at the time, smuggled into the United States from El Salvador in 2012. Valle forced the girl to work six days a week at a Pacoima restaurant where Valle worked.

When the child wasn't working at the restaurant, she was ordered to clean the Sylmar home shared by Valle and her boyfriend, Estrada Melvin Sandoval, 41.

Sandoval pleaded no contest last year to one misdemeanor count each of false imprisonment and battery and was sentenced to 1 ½ years in county jail.

The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department's Major Crimes Division.

Los Angeles County District Attorney / case BA423675 / March 11, 2016