Artavius Horne, Child Sex Trafficking, Pennsylvania 2023

Artavius Horne, a 36-year-old Philadelphia man known as “Lo,” is going away for 45 years after being convicted of sex trafficking three children over a multi-year span in Northeast Philadelphia. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, includes 10 years of supervised release following prison time, marking one of the harshest penalties in recent federal sex trafficking cases in Pennsylvania.

Horne was found guilty in September 2019 after a week-long trial that peeled back the curtain on a grotesque operation run from so-called “trap houses” across the city. Prosecutors proved Horne orchestrated a sex trafficking ring between 2013 and 2015, and again in 2018, exploiting minors for profit. One victim was just 13 years old. He recruited, controlled, and advertised the girls on Backpage.com, shipping them across state lines to New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., and Maryland to perform commercial sex acts under his direction.

The operation was both organized and relentless. Horne used Internet ads to market his underage victims to sex buyers, treating children like commodities. The girls were kept in squalid apartments, forced into repeated sexual encounters, and stripped of autonomy — all to line Horne’s pockets. The government detailed how he dictated their movements, controlled their earnings, and used coercion to maintain dominance over their lives.

This wasn’t Horne’s first brush with justice. In 2017, he was convicted of nearly identical crimes in Bucks County, PA — and yet, he continued trafficking minors while on parole. U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain didn’t mince words: “Horne committed these heinous acts while on parole for doing the exact same thing. He has no regard for the law — or even basic human decency. He deserves every minute of the 45 years that he received today.”\

Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, emphasized the nationwide reach of Horne’s crimes. “Artavius Horne made his living by sexually exploiting children, advertising underage girls for sex with strangers,” Driscoll said. “He even transported them to other cities and states, determined to keep the money coming in at their expense.” The FBI urged anyone with information on similar cases to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov — anonymously, if needed.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with prosecution handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie B. Wilmoth. The verdict sends a clear message: predators who traffic children will face relentless pursuit and maximum penalties. For the victims, it’s a sliver of justice in a saga defined by trauma, manipulation, and exploitation — horrors no child should ever endure.