An El Paso federal court jury convicted an El Paso County Probation Officer and three other Folk Nation/Gangster Disciples on charges of trafficking a minor female in a sex trafficking case. The men were charged with forcing a 16-year-old girl into prostitution where she was forced to have sex for money with as many as six men per day.
Timothy McCullouch, a 29-year-old former El Paso County Probation Officer, was convicted on one count of sex trafficking of children, according to an FBI press release. The other men included in the conviction were Deion Lockhart, 26, Rickard Gray, 25, and Emmanual Lockhart, 24.
McCullouch was a football player at the University of Texas – El Paso prior to becoming a probation officer according to a report on KFOX14.
Deion Lockhart was convicted of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of persons, sex trafficking by force and coercion and aiding and abetting sex trafficking of children. Gray was convicted of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, one count of sex trafficking of children and one count of transportation for prostitution. Emmanual Lockhart was convicted of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of persons.
Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed a sixteen-year-old girl was lured to a Comfort Inn in El Paso in August 2012. The victim was identified as AG in the criminal complaint. She was invited to the hotel by a friend to “make some money.” She was told they would lure men to the room and rob them. At some point she went to the bathroom and when she returned, her friend who drove her was gone. She was told the friend would return later, but she never did.
She was coerced into posing for pictures to be posted to a website. Later she was forced to have sex with a man for money.
Over the course of the next several days, AG was forced to have sex with five or six men per day. She was told to charge $100 for thirty minutes or $180 for an hour. Deion Lockhart would keep the money. He would also yell at her after fifteen minutes and accuse her of enjoying the sex with the strange men.
At least one customer with whom she had sex told her his condom broke. She did not know if she had been exposed to any sexually transmitted diseases.
AG was also forced to have sex with Deion Lockhart according to the complaint. She also observed other girls being beaten but said she was not hit. She observed one female being sexually abused by the entire gang of men. She finally escaped from the men.
Two other men pleaded guilty in May, 2014. Tai Von Lynch and Brandon Shapiro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of persons. On October 28, 2014, Lynch was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. Shapiro, who remains in custody, is awaiting sentencing scheduled for February. He faces an agreed sentence of five years in federal prison.
“This verdict is a major victory for HSI and its law enforcement partners within the ACTeam,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez. “HSI plans to employ its ample authority, resources and resolve to investigate human trafficking activity in our community, identify and rescue victims, and bring traffickers to justice.”
“The FBI has a zero tolerance on Human Trafficking and all traffickers, whether gang members or government employees, and will be aggressively pursued and held accountable,” stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas E. Lindquist.
The defendants used a combination of force, fraud, and coercion to compel their victims to engage in sexual activities for money in El Paso; Killeen, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Las Vegas, NV; and, in Colorado.
Each defendant faces up to life in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for April 2015, before U.S. District Judge Philip R. Martinez.
Bob Price is a senior political writer for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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