Crispus Lewis, charged with sexual assault of a child, is accused of prostituting a 16-year-old girl.Dominic Richards is charged with compelling prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution and sexual assault of a child.
Two Houston men remain in jail today after being arrested as part of a three-day nationwide sting to get child prostitutes off the streets.
The operation involved local law enforcement in 29 cities across the country working with the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Houston police Officers Emma Rodriguez and Catherine Clogher, of Juvenile Division's sex crimes unit, helped arrest the two local men accused of being pimps to three teenage girls.
The goal, Rodriguez said today, was "to recover child victims and to try to get the pimps behind them."
"Sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unconscionable crimes committed in this country," FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole said.
Arrested in Houston were Crispus Lewis, 34, and Dominic Richards, 29.
Lewis, charged with sexual assault of a child, was prostituting a 16-year-old girl, Rodriguez said. He was ordered held in lieu of $20,000 bail.
Richards is charged with compelling prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution and sexual assault of a child. His bail was set at $50,000.
Two other girls, ages 16 and 17, were taken into custody for taking part in an Internet escort service orchestrated by Richards, Rodriguez said.
The three girls were charged in the federal juvenile justice system with prostitution.
"It's a vicious cycle," Rodriguez said. "We do have to charge them. They are runaways and they don't have anywhere to go. We have no choice but to charge them."
The sting, dubbed Operation Cross Country II, was designed to get child prostitutes off the streets and into protective services and to disrupt people and organizations that victimize children.
The operation resulted in 642 arrests nationwide, including 73 people accused of being pimps and 518 accused of being prostitutes, federal authorities said.
It also is credited with disrupting 12 large-scale prostitution operations and rescuing 47 children, ages 13 to 17, from the sex trade.
Ten of those children rescued had been listed as missing, investigators said.
Last year, the first Operation Cross Country led to more than 350 arrests and the rescue of 21 children.
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