Man Pleads Guilty to Transporting Minors for Sex

United States Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama announced that Warren James Lewis, III, 33, formerly of Gulfport, Mississippi, pled guilty today to charges that he transported minors across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Lewis admitted that he transported two girls, 8 and 7 years old, and a boy, 9 years old, from Mobile to a trailer in Gulfport on Christmas Day 2010 with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity with the children. According to the plea agreement, Lewis had been raping the two girls for at least two-and-a-half years and forcing the boy to engage in sex acts with one of the girls. At the plea, Lewis admitted that he raped the two girls on New Year’s Eve.

Lewis will be sentenced in January by United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment, a fine of up $250,000, and five years to lifetime supervised release.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Mobile County Department of Human Resources, and the Gulfport Police Department conducted the investigation and presented the case for prosecution to the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Sean P. Costello is handling the prosecution of the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.