On September 15, 2016, Robin Thompson, 25, of Park Hills, Missouri, was sentenced for her role in the sex trafficking of a minor last year, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Donald S. Boyce, announced today.
Thompson was sentenced to 20 years in prison, as well as 10 years of supervised release, following her prison term, a mandatory $100 special assessment, and a $1,000 fine. Court proceedings revealed that during a six week period in June and July 2015, Thompson took part in a venture with her husband, co-defendant Marcus Dewayne Thompson, which involved the recruitment, transportation, and advertisement of a minor female from Illinois for commercial sex acts in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana. Along with Marcus Thompson, Robin Thompson took and posted sexually explicit pictures of the minor on an internet site as part of an advertisement for sex with the minor. Thompson also arranged prices, services, and meet locations with customers to engage in sex with the minor.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel T. Kapsak.