Feds: Woman trafficked underage children

Three girls told FBI agents they were coerced into selling themselves for sex, meeting men

An 11-year-old girl had run away from her family and was staying at a hotel on Oakland Park Boulevard in a room rented by an older man.

That’s where prosecutors say she met Shanteria Barnes.

Barnes, 30, introduced herself as “Pumpkin” and asked the child to dance, prosecutors say.

When the young girl did a split, Barnes said she’d pay the child $60 to strip at an aunt’s birthday party, they allege.

Then, Barnes showed the child “videos and pictures of people with wads of cash” in order to show her “how much money she could make engaging in commercial sex acts,” a federal criminal complaint reads.

Barnes is accused of trafficking the 11-year-old girl — and two other girls ages 15 and 17 — for sex during late July and early August.

Because of their ages, none of the victims are identified by name in court records or proceedings.

“Eleven years old is probably the youngest victim I’ve encountered in a sex trafficking case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Obenauf said at a hearing Wednesday.

The three girls told FBI agents that Barnes suggested they sell their bodies for sex, and two of them said Barnes helped arrange meetings with men.

If convicted, Barnes faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years.

At a detention hearing Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale federal court, prosecutors and FBI agents laid out the case against the 30-year-old Pompano Beach woman.

Here’s what prosecutors and FBI agents said the victims told authorities about Barnes:

After the 11-year-old met Barnes at the hotel, she told FBI agents that Barnes began arrang

ing “dates” for herself and the young girl.

The dates took place either at Barnes’ house in Pompano Beach or at a nearby hotel, where the men would register rooms in their names.

Barnes instructed the young girl to charge the dates $40 for sex.

This arrangement, the complaint says, lasted for about four days. On one day, court records show the young girl saw at least 10 men.

Shortly after FBI agents interviewed the 11-year-old victim, they made contact with the 15-year-old girl, who told agents that Barnes had pressured her to have sex with men for cash while living with Barnes in Pompano.

Investigators found advertisements for sex featuring the 15-year-old posted on websites and apps. The postings were traced back to the Pompano house were both she and Barnes were staying.

Juan Michelen, Barnes’ federal public defender, pointed out at the detention hearing that prosecutors did not present proof that Barnes posted the advertisements herself.

Obenauf, the prosecutor, argued to hold Barnes without bond.

“It is significant if the defendant harbored, encouraged or enticed any of the victims,” she said.

Federal Magistrate Judge Jared Strauss agreed with Obenauf’s request, but not before saying that Barnes was likely not the ringleader of the groups that trafficked the children for sex.

“I don’t think the weight of the evidence is overwhelming that the defendant is necessarily the primary organizer or person causing the victim to engage in commercial sex acts,” Strauss said.

At the hearing, FBI agent Alex Loff said the ongoing investigation was now focused on Barnes’ ex-boyfriend, who registered the room in which the 11-yearold stayed.

“Even if the defendant was not the ringleader,” Strauss said just before ordering that Barnes’ be held without bond, “her involvement or facilitation is incredibly serious.”