NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that DOMINIQUE PEEPLES, age 25, from Memphis, Tennessee, was charged today by a federal grand jury in a one-count indictment for bringing a seventeen-year-old female from Memphis, Tennessee to New Orleans, Louisiana and elsewhere for the purpose of having her perform commercial sex acts from in or about August 2020 and continuing until in or about January 2021. For this conduct, the indictment charges PEEPLES with Sex Trafficking of a Minor, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1591(a)(1), 1591(b)(2), 1594(a), and 2.
If convicted, PEEPLES faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten (10) years imprisonment up to life imprisonment. The defendant also faces supervised release for a minimum term of five years up to life, a fine of up to $250,000, a requirement that the defendant participate in the sex offender registration and notification program, and a mandatory $100.00 special assessment fee.
U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that an indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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 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.”
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Memphis Police Department in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Maria Carboni and Jordan Ginsberg, Supervisor of the Public Corruption Unit, are in charge of the prosecution.