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Baltimore Man Sentenced for Child Pornography and Human Trafficking
Baltimore, MD – Richard Ho Lee, age 32, was sentenced to 7-14 years in prison for receiving child pornography and human trafficking. Lee pleaded guilty to the charges in February 2015.
According to the plea agreement, Lee purchased sex from a 16-year-old girl, T.F., on five occasions in September and October 2011. Lee paid for a bus ticket for T.F. to travel to Panama City, Florida, where he met her. Upon arriving in Panama City, T.F. revealed to Lee that she was only 16 years old.
Lee continued to have sex with T.F. and encouraged her to engage in prostitution. He placed at least 15 advertisements for the victim on an adult website and used his personal credit card to pay for the advertisements. Lee took provocative photographs of T.F. in lingerie and underwear that he had purchased for her and attached some of the photos to the advertisements.
On January 9, 2012, Lee purchased a bus ticket for T.F. to return to Maryland. In January 2012, Lee produced a counterfeit North Dakota state driver’s license for T.F., which indicated that she was 22 years old. In May 2012, Lee took provocative photographs of T.F. inside his residence in Baltimore.
On June 2012, federal agents recovered Lee’s laptop computers and an external hard drive containing over 600 images of child pornography, including images that depicted minors less than twelve years old and portrayed sadistic and masochistic conduct. The laptop also contained templates designed to be used for the production of counterfeit state driver’s licenses.
As part of his plea agreement, Lee must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Lee also forfeited his home in the 600 block of South Wolf Street in Baltimore, two laptop computers, and an external hard drive.
The case was investigated by the FBI-led Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force (MCETF), created in 2010 to combat child prostitution. The Task Force coordinates with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Maryland State Police Child Recovery Unit to identify missing children being advertised online for prostitution.
MCETF partners with the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Sex Crimes|Human Trafficking|Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release —
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