Woman pleads guilty to obstruction in sex trafficking case

Published 8:33 am Wednesday, October 12, 2022

U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans said Dajanae Drake, 29, of Missouri City, Texas, pleaded guilty on Oct. 6 before U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to a one-count bill of information charging her with obstruction, attempted obstruction, and interference with the enforcement of the federal criminal sex trafficking statute.

According to court documents, Person 1, then about 16, met Randi Lewis in about early 2020.  Lewis recruited Person 1, a female, to engage in commercial sex acts under his direction, and she complied.
In about June 2021, Lewis and Person 1 met the minor victim, who was 13 in the Houston area.  At Lewis’s direction, Person 1 recruited the victim to perform commercial sex acts, which would also be under Lewis’s direction.  Thereafter, Lewis arranged for he, Person 1, and the minor 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, 2021, and June 24, 2021, Person 1 and the minor victim performed multiple commercial sex acts in the New Orleans area. On June 24, 2021, law enforcement authorities recovered the victim and arrested Person 1 and Lewis at a hotel in Terrytown.

Between June 25, 2021, and about November 28, 2021, Drake held numerous telephone conversations with Person 1 and Lewis, including several conversations during which Drake knowingly encouraged Person 1 to sign a false affidavit saying Lewis played no role in recruiting and trafficking the minor victim.  Drake did so with the purpose of obstructing.

Email newsletter signup

Drake faces a maximum term of 25 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000.00, up to five years of supervised release after imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee per count.

Sentencing before Judge Lemmon has been scheduled for Jan. 19, 2023.