Leader of Sex Trafficking Ring Pleads Guilty

The leader of a sex trafficking ring pleaded guilty today to charges stemming from his interstate prostitution enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney J. Walter Green of the Middle District of Louisiana and Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Anderson of the FBI’s New Orleans Division.

Jeremie J. Tate, 33, of Zachary, Louisiana, pleaded guilty this morning before U.S. District Judge Shelly D. Dick of the Middle District of Louisiana to conspiracy to unlawfully use interstate facilities in aid of racketeering, two counts of use of interstate facilities in aid of racketeering and enticing another to travel interstate for prostitution.  After evading arrest for several days, Tate was apprehended in Houston, Texas, on April 25, 2014, by the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and the FBI’s New Orleans Division.  Tate has remained in federal custody since his arrest.

According to the plea agreement filed in the case, from November 2012 through November 2013, Tate operated a prostitution business based in Baton Rouge involving multiple prostitutes, including a minor.  Tate and others, used telephones and the Internet to arrange online advertising, schedule prostitution sessions and recruit other prostitutes.  Tate admitted that he took most of the proceeds from the prostitution business and distributed controlled substances to his prostitutes and others to manipulate and intimidate them.  In his plea agreement, Tate specifically admitted that he enticed a prostitute to travel from Baton Rouge to Las Vegas in December 2012 to engage in prostitution for him.

Three other individuals have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing for their roles in this sex trafficking ring.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s New Orleans Division, Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, Louisiana State Police and East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Police Department’s Narcotics Division, U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and other law enforcement agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Reginald E. Jones of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie A. Flowers Jr. of the Middle District of Louisiana.

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.