Oakland Pimp Sentenced for Child Exploitation Crimes

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Jamir Imari Tatum, 20, of Oakland, today to seven years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, for crimes relating to his sex trafficking of a 14-year-old South Sacramento girl, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Tatum was also ordered to register as a sex offender following his release from prison.

According to court documents, in January 2012, Tatum met the 14-year-old victim outside her house. He took her to a motel in Sacramento and took several photographs of her engaged in sexually explicit conduct. On February 21, 2012, agents were notified that the victim had run away with Tatum. Law enforcement identified online prostitution advertisements linked to Tatum’s phone that showed the sexually explicit pictures of the victim taken by Tatum. Task force officers made an undercover prostitution date with the victim. Text messages recovered from Tatum’s phone showed Tatum attempting to make money from “dates” with the victim.

At sentencing, Judge England noted that Tatum’s age, lack of sophistication, and relatively short period of time as a pimp counseled against a sentence greater than 84 months. “[Tatum’s crime] was so low-level, so stupid, but so bad, that something has to be done to deter him [and others],” said Judge England. He went on to tell Tatum after announcing his sentence that he now has “seven years to figure out where you are going to go with your life.” “You have two choices,” warned Judge England, “you can be back in this court again and spend most of your life in prison, or you can turn it around.”

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Innocence Lost Task Force, a task force made up of the FBI, the Sacramento Police Department, and the Sacramento County Sheriff. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon prosecuted the case.

This case 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 those who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “Resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.