Parkville Man Pleads Guilty To Sex Trafficking Of A Minor

Baltimore, Maryland – Rodney Hubert, a/k/a “Noah,” age 39, of Parkville, Maryland pleaded guilty today to sex trafficking of a minor.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

According to his plea agreement, in January 2013, Hubert, a registered sex offender in Maryland, recruited girls, some of whom were underage, to engage in prostitution. He offered a finder’s fee to young prostitutes if they found additional girls to prostitute for them.

Hubert took explicit photos of girls which he posted on internet websites that hosted ads for prostitution. He provided a residence in Parkville to host “in-call” local prostitution. He also instructed the girls on how to use a phone application to communicate with prospective customers and avoid detection by law enforcement.

Hubert sought a 19-year-old associate to work for him as a prostitute beginning in December 2012. Hubert offered her a commission to recruit a 16-year-old Baltimore resident to perform prostitution for him. Hubert invited the 16 year old to reside with him. The 16 year old girl had sex with customers on at least five occasions in the Parkville house, and on at least seven occasions at other locations, as directed by Hubert.

Hubert offered to pay the 16 year old girl $400 dollars to take provocative photos of her wearing lingerie. She posed for the photos taken by Hubert, although Hubert never paid her the promised fee. He did, however, use these photos to post online prostitution ads. Hubert also offered to pay her $1,000 to make a pornographic film with him in which they would engage in sex.

As part of his plea agreement, Hubert must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Hubert and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Hubert will be sentenced to between 168 and 262 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III has scheduled sentencing for August 1, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.

The case was investigated by the FBI-led Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force (MCETF), created in 2010 to combat child prostitution, with members from10 state and federal law enforcement agencies. The Task Force coordinates with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Maryland State Police Child Recovery Unit to identify missing children being advertised online for prostitution.

MCETF partners with the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members. For more information about the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/priorities_human.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Officefor their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark W. Crooks, who prosecuted the case.