HOUSTON – A Houston man pleaded guilty today in federal court to one count of sex trafficking of children, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Deangelo Tate, 27, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas in Houston. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 17, 2017.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, between Jan. 13, 2015, and March 16, 2015, Tate posted classified advertisements on backpage.com promoting the prostitution of a 17-year-old minor female. Tate admitted he also rented hotel rooms in Corpus Christi and Houston to serve as the location for commercial sex acts between the minor female and male customers. Tate transported the minor female to the hotels, collected all of the money from the completed sex acts and became physically violent with the minor female if she did not follow Tate’s orders, he admitted. Tate was aware that the victim was a minor and stated in a conversation recorded by law enforcement that the girl had no credibility because of her age.
The FBI investigated this case along with police departments in Houston and Corpus Christi. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Zack is prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorney Herbrina D. Sanders and Lauren Britsch of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS).
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 CEOS, 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.justice.gov/psc.