Maceo Roberts, Sex Trafficking, Louisiana 2025

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - A Memphis man has been sentenced to 270 months in prison for his role in a sex trafficking conspiracy that victimized multiple minors and adults.

Maceo Roberts, 25, from Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced on February 12, 2025, by United States District Judge Susie Morgan for conspiring to commit sex trafficking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1594(c).

According to court documents, Roberts began teaching his co-conspirators, Dominique Peeples and Jeremy Talbert, how to be pimps in the summer of 2020. Roberts then 'gave' Minor Victim 2, a minor female born in 2003, to Peeples, who introduced her to Talbert. Minor Victim 2 introduced Talbert to Minor Victim 3, a minor female born in 2003, who began performing commercial sex acts under Talbert's direction.

During the summer of 2020, Roberts, Peeples, and Talbert traveled throughout the southern United States, including the New Orleans area, with multiple females, including Minor Victim 2, Minor Victim 3, and Adult Victim 1, for the purpose of having the females engage in commercial sex acts. Roberts taught Peeples and Talbert techniques to oversee and advertise a prostitution operation, including the amount to charge.

In October 2020, Roberts assumed control over Minor Victim 3, requiring her to work approximately fifteen hours per day performing commercial sex acts and giving him all the money she earned. Roberts also beat Adult Victim 1 in front of Minor Victim 3 to show her the consequences for not following his instructions. Roberts provided drugs and alcohol to the victims to control their behavior.

Roberts's actions led to the victimization of multiple minors and adults, including Minor Victim 1, a fourteen-year-old female, who was recruited by Talbert to engage in commercial sex acts under his direction. In January 2021, Roberts beat Adult Victim 1 so badly that she required hospitalization in a New Orleans area facility. After her hospital discharge, Roberts and Peeples drove her and Minor Victim 2 to Houston and forced them to engage in commercial sex acts until they finally escaped.

Roberts and Peeples then returned to Memphis to look for Adult Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2 to punish them for escaping. Roberts located Adult Victim 1, hiding in a hotel bathtub, and choked her. He also threatened Minor Victim 2. Roberts met and began recruiting Adult Victim 2 to perform commercial sex acts under his direction in late January 2021. Adult Victim 2 did so until about April 2022, during which time Roberts repeatedly beat, threatened, and victimized her, including in November 2021 at a New Orleans area hotel.

Roberts's sentence will be run consecutively to any sentence imposed on a pending case for attempted first-degree murder, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Roberts's exact sentence for the attempted first-degree murder charge was not specified in the press release.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/memphis-man-sentenced-270-months-sex-trafficking-conspiracy