August 14, 2014

Houston Man Gets 40 Years for Sex Trafficking of Children

HOUSTON—Tevon Harris aka “Da Kidd” and “King Kidd,” 22, of Houston, will be spending the next 40 years in prison as a result of his convictions on two counts of trafficking children under 18 for commercial sex, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Harris pleaded guilty April 9, 2014.

Today, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, who accepted the guilty plea, sentenced Harris to a total of 480 months in federal prison. He was further ordered to spend the rest of his life on supervised release and must register as a sex offender.

According to the plea agreement, from January through July 2012, Harris forced young girls, who he knew were minors, into prostitution by using force and intimidation. Harris stipulated that in order to gain the trust of victims, whom he met on social networking sites, he would tell them he was going to help them become models. Instead, he picked them up, took them to motel rooms and then forced them to have sex with him. Harris would also deprive them of their cell phones, thereby cutting off their communication with the outside world.

Harris used violence to keep the minors cooperating with him. In one instance, he deprived a victim of food for more than four days because he did not believe she was servicing his clients well enough. He also supplied her with marijuana and alcohol. Another victim was beaten with a towel rack torn from a motel room wall when Harris found her using the phone to call her mother for help.

The victims were photographed and their images were posted in online ads for prostitution. Harris kept all monies they earned.

Harris will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

An investigation by the Houston FBI Innocence Lost Task Force, which includes such agencies as the Houston Police Department, developed this case using statements from victims as well as on line advertisements for the victims’ services and hotel records from several hotels.

This case, prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sherri L. Zack, was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”