A federal indictment unsealed in Minneapolis charges Markeace Arque Canty, a 32-year-old Duluth man, with child sex trafficking. The indictment alleges that from at least July 2012 through January 2013, Canty recruited, transported, and coerced a female victim, under the age of 18 at the time, to engage in commercial sex acts.
The indictment further alleges that Canty purchased ‘escort’ advertisements on the website backpage.com and transported the victim to locations in Duluth, Minneapolis, and elsewhere to meet advertisement responders at motels, where the victim engaged in sexual acts in exchange for money.
Specifically, on September 12, 2012, law enforcement in Indiana responded to one of the advertisements and arrested the female victim after she reportedly agreed to perform sex acts in exchange for money. The advertisement in that instance purportedly included a phone number registered to Canty.
Canty also attempted to arrange for the female victim’s release from jail after she was arrested on state prostitution charges. Additionally, the indictment alleges that on January 15, 2013, Canty received visual depictions via a computer of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Markeace Arque Canty faces a potential maximum penalty of life in prison on each of the sex trafficking counts and ten years on the charge of receipt of child pornography. Any sentences would be determined by a federal district court judge.
This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Duluth Police Department, with cooperation from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office, the Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota, police departments, the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office in North Dakota, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin, police department, and the Porter County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana.
Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez is prosecuting the case.
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- Steven Edward Meierding, Sex Trafficking of a Child, Minnesota 2017 · Illinois
- Cornelius M. Jackson, Sex Trafficking, Wisconsin 2020 · Ohio
Key Facts
- State: Minnesota
- Category: Human Trafficking|Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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