LAS VEGAS, NV
A federal judge sentenced a Las Vegas man to 10 years in prison for taking a 15-year-old girl from California to Las Vegas to work as a prostitute, FBI officials announced Thursday.
Deandre Maurice Parker, 27, who was captured as part of “Operation Protect the Powerless,” plead guilty in June to one count of sex trafficking of a minor, according to authorities.
“Defendant sexually exploited and victimized a 15-year-old girl by transporting her to Las Vegas so that she could act as a prostitute,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden. “Under federal law, the crime committed by the defendant is a crime of violence involving a child. We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute cases involving the exploitation of minors as part of our implementation of the Project Safe Childhood initiative in Nevada.”
According to the court records, these are the facts surrounding this case:
- The 15-year-old female victim initially met Parker in 2013 in San Bernardino, Calif.
- For several months, Parker stayed in touch with the victim through social media websites.
- In June 2014, the victim ran away from the group home where she resided and re-connected with Parker.
- Parker recruited her to work as a prostitute, teaming her with another prostitute who worked for him to teach the girl the ropes.
- In August 2014, Parker moved the victim to Los Angeles to work as a prostitute, but when that did not prove to be profitable enough, Parker returned with the victim to San Bernardino and then to Las Vegas in September 2014 for prostitution.
- Parker used the website Backpage.com to advertise the victim’s services as a prostitute.
- The victim was arrested by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectives in October 2014, and agreed to cooperate with authorities.