Denzel Akeem Loftin, Sex Trafficking, Virginia 2022

NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesapeake man pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a minor, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Denzel Akeem Loftin, 32, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a minor, according to court documents. The crime occurred in September 2022.

According to court documents, in September 2022, Loftin began chatting with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a 17-year-old girl living in Pennsylvania. Loftin said he was a pimp and proposed that the girl come to Virginia to work for him. The next month, he posted advertisements for her on online sex trafficking sites. Then, in October 2022, the FBI learned of a 14-year-old missing child from Colorado who had been located in sex trafficking advertisements in the Hampton Roads area.

Loftin is scheduled to be sentenced on November 2, 2023. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and maximum penalty of life in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Loftin not only sex-trafficked the minor but also engaged in a sex act with the 17-year-old, according to a review of seized electronic devices. Loftin was observed with the girl and two other female individuals immediately before the appointment. One of the other individuals was identified as a missing 17-year-old from Missouri.

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 U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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