U.S. v. Thompson

Dist. Ct. did not err in accepting defendant’s guilty plea to charge of sex trafficking of minor by force, fraud or coercion and conspiracy to do same with his wife. Record showed that defendant enticed 15-year old victim to enter his vehicle through promise of obtaining modeling work for her, and then, with his wife, embarked on six-week spree of sexual exploitation of victim in which he sold victim’s sexual services to at least 15 men across three states. Defendant also threatened victim after she had refused to have anal sex with one customer and after victim had tried to escape. While defendant argued that he was incompetent to enter into guilty plea due to his lack of education, record showed that he had previously pleaded guilty to nine unrelated offenses and was sophisticated enough to operate instant online prostitution scheme. Moreover, defendant’s signed stipulation contained sufficient facts to support instant convictions, especially where defendant had never intended to obtain victim any modeling work, and where defendant had used threats of force to keep victim performing sexual acts.