Houston man charged with trafficking 13-year-old in New Orleans
Published 10:57 pm Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Randi Lewis, 34, of Houston has been charged by a federal grand jury in a five-count indictment for sex trafficking.
U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans said Lewis is accused of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14, interstate transportation of a minor for purposes of unlawful sexual activity, coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and production of child sexual abuse material. He is accused of bringing a 13-year-old female from Houston to New Orleans for the purpose of her engaging in commercial sex acts in June 2021.
According to the indictment, Lewis met his co-conspirator, a female born in 2003, in about 2019. He recruited the female to engage in commercial sex acts under his direction, and she complied. Together, Lewis and his co-conspirator met the victim in the Houston area not later than June 21, 2021.
The indictment states that at Lewis’ direction, the co-conspirator recruited the victim to perform commercial sex acts. Soon thereafter, she introduced the victim to Lewis who arranged for he, his co-conspirator, and the victim to travel to New Orleans on a Greyhound bus for the purpose of his co-conspirator and the victim to engage in commercial sex acts. Between June 22-24, 2021, his co-conspirator and the victim performed multiple commercial sex acts in the New Orleans area.
Lewis is also accused of creating and causing to be created advertisements on an online classified ad service commonly used to advertise sexual services in exchange for money, through which he received telephone calls, text messages, and messages via social media applications inquiring about, scheduling, and arranging prostitution calls with his co-conspirator and the victim. He also arranged for sexually explicit pictures of the victim to be used in the advertisements.
Lewis and his co-conspirator also gave the victim illicit and mood-altering drugs, including marijuana, to numb her senses, control her behavior, and/or to encourage her to engage in commercial sex acts. Law enforcement authorities recovered the victim at a hotel in Terrytown, on June 24, 2021.
If convicted on all counts, Lewis faces the following maximum sentence for each count: a a maximum term of life in prison as to Count 1, mandatory minimum term of 15 years and up to a maximum term of life as to Count 2, mandatory minimum term of 10 years and up to a maximum term of life as to each of Counts 3 and 4, and a mandatory minimum term of 15 years and up to a maximum term of 30 years as to Count 5, a fine of up to $250,000.00, a lifetime of supervised release after imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee per count. Lewis may also be required to register as a sex offender.
