Child Sex Trafficking Lands Texas Man in Prison for 14 Years

HOUSTON, Texas – A man from Houston, Texas, will spend the next fourteen years in prison for his role in trafficking underage girls. The minor females were forced into prostitution and photographed.

Pierre Johnson, 40, was convicted in July, 2014, for conspiring to traffic children under the age of eighteen, according to a previous Breitbart Texas report. He admitted to coercing at least three girls into prostitution through the use of force and intimidation.

Originally, Johnson was charged with six counts of sex trafficking and transporting minors. His plea bargain reduced the charges to one conviction. Johnson could have faced a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

In the plea agreement obtained by Breitbart Texas, Johnson confessed to knowing that his victim was under the age of 18 and that he recklessly disregarded that fact when forcing his victim to engage in commercial sex acts. He admitted to using fraud, force, and coercion to force the young girl to comply with his orders.

Johnson would transport the girl from Texas to Colorado and back to perform commercial sex acts. He, and his conspirator, Dominique Howard, would advertise the girls on Backpage.com and other online sites with photographs he had taken of the girl. Johnson took and kept all of the money the girl received for the sex acts. He also supplied her with marijuana.

Johnson was sentenced to spend 14 years in prison. His co-conspirator, Howard, was sentenced to also spend 14 years in prison earlier this month.

The Houston Police Department and the FBI Innocence Lost Task Force jointly conducted the investigation. The case was developed from statements from the victims, on-line advertisements for the girls’ services, and hotel records from a wide variety of hotels.

Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on the impact of human trafficking and sex trafficking and the efforts by Texas authorities to prosecute these crimes.

Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrests of seventeen child predators. Those arrests came as part of the national Operation Broken Heart II round-up of adults seeking to meet children for sex. This program is part of the ongoing Internet Crimes Against Children campaign.

Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.