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Date: 03-09-2022
Case Style:
Case Number: 2:19-cr-00090-KJM
Judge: Kimberly J. Mueller
Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (Sacramento County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Sacramento, California criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with sex trafficking a minor.
Robert Pierre Duncan, age 26, of Sacramento was charged with of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a child, sex trafficking of a child, and escape from custody.
Between September and October 2018, Duncan recruited a 17-year-old girl to engage in prostitution in Oakland and San Francisco. He frequently drove the victim to areas known for prostitution activity where he caused her to have sex with strangers for money, which he kept. Duncan also posted online prostitution ads depicting the victim and harbored the victim at an Oakland motel so she could have sex with sex buyers. In late September 2018, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputies recovered the victim. However, a few weeks later, Duncan, working with his co-conspirator, Eva Christian, 25, extracted the victim from a children’s group home in the middle of the night. The next day, Duncan put the victim back to work engaging in prostitution on the streets of Oakland. After obtaining the victim from the group home, Duncan managed his pimping operation from his Sacramento apartment, using his cellphone and a location tracking application on his phone to monitor and direct the victim’s prostitution activity in Oakland.
On May 31, 2019, Duncan was arrested by FBI agents in Sacramento. Shortly after his arrest, Duncan broke out of custody and fled through Midtown Sacramento until he was finally apprehended several blocks away from the scene of his initial arrest.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the California Department of Justice’s Special Operations Unit, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Woodland Police Department, and the Oakland Police Department with assistance from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian A. Fogerty and Sam Stefanki are prosecuting the case.
Duncan is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on June 6, 2022. Duncan faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. His conviction on the sex trafficking of a child count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet-safety education.
CONSPIRACY TO ENGAGE IN SEX TRAFFICKING
(1)
CONSPIRACY TO ENGAGE IN SEX TRAFFICKING
(1s)
SEX TRAFFICKING OF A CHILD
(2)
SEX TRAFFICKING OF A CHILD
(2s)
ESCAPE FROM CUSTODY
(3s)
Outcome:
03/09/2022 198 FINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS as to Robert Pierre Duncan. (Huang, H) (Entered: 03/09/2022)
Defendant was found guilty.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: