February 19, 2015

Dallas Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking of a Minor

SHREVEPORT, LA—United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Dallas man was sentenced Tuesday to 170 months in prison for transporting a minor to Bossier City, La., for prostitution.

Qualyn D. Mitchell, 31, of Dallas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote on one count of sex trafficking of a minor. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release. According to evidence presented at the September 16, 2014 guilty plea, law enforcement agents responded in an undercover capacity to an online advertisement for prostitution on November 21, 2013 and found a 16-year-old minor at a Bossier City hotel engaged in prostitution. Mitchell was found in an adjacent hotel room with another prostitute. Upon further investigation, it was learned that Mitchell met the minor a few days earlier and brought her from Dallas to Bossier City. He instructed the minor to give him the money she made from prostitution. Agents found $1,200 on Mitchell at the time of the arrest.

“Human trafficking, especially for the purpose of underage prostitution, is a heinous crime,” Finley stated. “This office is committed to prosecuting individuals who manipulate minors into committing sexual acts, often using the threat of violence, and who profit from this illegal and reprehensible conduct. I want to thank the Assistant U.S. Attorney, the FBI, and the other law enforcement agencies for their vigilance in investigating these crimes, which have resulted not only in criminal convictions, but in the rescue of numerous girls and young women from terrible environments.”

The FBI-Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force, Bossier City Police Department, and the Bossier City Marshal’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth D. Reeg prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.

Those concerned may leave tips with the FBI at tips.fbi.gov and may be submitted anonymously. The Shreveport FBI office number is (318) 861-1890.