DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – The Department of Justice is enhancing its efforts against human sex trafficking.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Erin Nealy Cox, two North Texas men are charged with Child sex trafficking after allegedly paying to have sex with a 13-year-old girl in an Irving hotel room. Cox said that in the past the DOJ has primarily targeted alleged pimps, but is now ramping up enforcement of a law passed in recent years to allow buyers the sex trafficking world to be held just as responsible as sellers.
According to Cox, a federal grand jury indicted 35-year-old Kention Obryan Johnson, and 30-year-old Sergio Trinidad Carvajal, earlier this month for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking of children. The defendants were arrested in Dallas last Wednesday.
“Traffickers sell children for sex because their clients will pay for it. It’s that simple,” Cox said. “By attacking both the supply and the demand, we think we will be able to truly make a difference in fighting this dehumanizing, horrific crime.”
Cox Announced that the prosecution is part of the Justice Department’s sex trafficking demand reduction initiative, a program focused on punishing and deterring those who drive the market for sex from children and other vulnerable persons. The Abolish Human Trafficking Act of 2017 reaffirmed that a person who knowingly purchases a commercial sex act with a trafficking victim is just as culpable as the person who supplies the trafficking victim for commercial sex.
“The sex trafficking of minors is a despicable crime that HSI Dallas and our dedicated partners will continue to prioritize and relentlessly investigate. Whether you’re involved in the actual trafficking or perpetuate it as a consumer, HSI will use every resource available to ensure you face justice,” said Ryan L. Spradlin, Special Agent in Charge of HSI’s Dallas Field Office. “HSI will continue to pursue individuals involved in this type of modern-day slavery, and work vigorously to rescue the young, helpless victims whose dignity and well-being are blatantly disregarded.”
If convicted, Johnson and Carvajal each face up to life in federal prison, as does Mr. Mathis.
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