Federal Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking under 18 U.S.C. section 1591 covers recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, obtaining, advertising, maintaining, patronizing, or soliciting a person for a commercial sex act through force, fraud, or coercion. If the victim is under eighteen, the government does not need to prove force, fraud, or coercion.
The mandatory minimum is fifteen years when the victim is under fourteen or when force, fraud, or coercion is used. Otherwise the minimum is ten years. The maximum is life.
How these cases are prosecuted
Federal sex-trafficking investigations are led by the FBI and HSI, often in cooperation with local vice units. The evidence includes undercover operations, internet advertisements (particularly on known platforms), financial records, phone records, hotel records, victim statements, and cooperating witnesses.
The government often charges multiple defendants: the person managing the operation, the person posting the advertisements, the person collecting the money, and the person providing transportation or housing. Each faces the same mandatory minimum.
Victims and witnesses
Trafficking victims are often reluctant or hostile witnesses. They may have criminal histories of their own, substance abuse issues, and relationships with the defendants that are … complicated. The government provides victim advocates and witness protection. The defense challenges the reliability and consistency of victim testimony, and whether the government can prove the element of force, fraud, or coercion when the victim’s account is ambiguous.
See also state prostitution and promotion of prostitution charges.
Talk to us
713-224-1747.
If you have been convicted and need an appeal, email us at [email protected].