DALLAS — Damion Kentrell White, 24, of Dallas, was sentenced
yesterday by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 240 months in federal
prison on felony convictions stemming from a plan to recruit a developmentally
disabled teenage girl to engage in commercial sex acts, announced U.S. Attorney
John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Damion White pleaded guilty to one count of using a facility
of interstate commerce in aid or a racketeering enterprise and one count of
illegal receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment.
His co-defendant brother, Kenneth Laray White, 27, was
sentenced earlier this year to serve a total of 326 months in federal
prison. Kenneth White pleaded guilty to
one count of using a facility of interstate commerce in aid of a racketeering
enterprise and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Another defendant charged and convicted in the case, their
cousin, Mecose Mendale Shorter, 32, also of Dallas, pleaded guilty in May to
one count of use of a facility of interstate commerce in aid of a racketeering
enterprise and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 28, 2016.
According to documents filed in the case, from approximately
July 4, 2013, to July 22, 2013, Damion White, Kenneth White and Mecose Shorter
engaged in an enterprise that promoted prostitution in various hotels in
Dallas. In early July 2013, Damion and
Kenneth White recruited a mentally challenged 18-year-old girl to work for them
in the prostitution enterprise; Shorter was engaged in the unlawful activity of
promoting prostitution of another female.
Damion and Kenneth knew the victim since she was 15 years
old. When she was 18 years old, they
devised a plan to recruit her to engage in commercial sex acts for them by
taking advantage of her diminished mental capacity. In late June 2013, Damion White established a
friendship with the victim, and then, in early July of 2013, he used false
pretenses to convince her to leave her home with him.
Later that night, Kenneth and Damion White drove the victim
to a motel in Dallas where Damion White had rented a room. Kenneth White used his cell phone to take
provocative photos of the victim that they later used in advertisements they
posted on backpage.com (link is external).
They deprived her of food and prevented her from leaving the room to
encourage her to engage in commercial sex acts for them. Kenneth White had sex with the victim, and
the victim eventually engaged in commercial sex acts and provided the money she
earned to Kenneth White. Kenneth and
Damion White used the Internet and a cell phone to coordinate the victim’s
commercial sex acts with potential customers.
Later, Kenneth and Damion White moved the victim to another
motel in Dallas where they continued to compel her to engage in commercial acts
during the latter part of July 2013.
Officers with the Dallas Police Department rescued the victim from this
motel on July 22, 2013.
Kenneth and Damion White were arrested on federal sex
trafficking charges on February 25, 2014.
Kenneth White was found at his girlfriend’s apartment, and during a
protective sweep of the apartment, agents located a Romar/Cugir 7.62 caliber
rifle, along with three extended magazines under the mattress in the master
bedroom. Damion White admitted that he
had possessed firearms recently, including the firearm that Kenneth White was
caught with that day. Damion White
further admitted that he had been under indictment for a felony marijuana case
for quite some time.
The North Texas Trafficking Taskforce, including the FBI,
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Dallas Police
Department, investigated. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Cara Foos Pierce is prosecuting the case.
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