12 indicted in child sex trafficking case
Nine men and three women are in custody after being accused of conspiracy and sex trafficking of children in two separate but related indictments, U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez announced Friday.
The defendants apparently used sexually oriented websites to advertise their business and employed four minors as young as 16-years-old, for commercial sex, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. Young girls allegedly posed for pictures used in online advertisements for sex and also engaged in sexual acts for money, according to the charges.
In one online advertisement, the defendants photographed an adult prostitute performing oral sex on a 16-year-old runaway victim, the release stated. The victim also worked as a prostitute for the defendants.
Those charged include Joseph Church, 31, and Angela Marks, 23, both of Sweeney; Jamaal Crane, 25, of Angleton; Norris Moon, 23, and Christopher Walton, 23, both of Brazoria; Ronnie Beasley, 19, of Rosharon; and William Franklin, 18, of Wharton.
Jamier Coleman, 20, and Lurkesha Baugh, 35, both of Wharton, were previously in state custody on unrelated charges.
Alisa Kimber, 24, of Freeport, was already in federal custody on earlier similar charges. Authorities arrested Stephanie Walker, 35, of Houston, in Beaumont on Thursday. The final defendant, Eric Page, 19, was taken into custody Wednesday on unrelated charges in Sherman. They are expected to appear in Galveston court soon.
All but two are charged with conspiracy to traffic children for the purpose of commercialized sex, sex trafficking of children and sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, the release stated.
Walker and Kimbler were indicted on a charge of using an interstate facility to promote sex trafficking of children. Church and Marks also face a production of child pornography charge. While, Moon and Walton have an additional charge of carrying a firearm while engaging in the crime of sex trafficking of minors.