Maurice Mabon, Child Sex Trafficking and Firearms Offenses, Tennessee 2012

A federal jury in Memphis, Tennessee, has convicted Maurice Mabon, 23, of Memphis, of child sex trafficking and a firearms offense.

Mabon was found guilty of child sex trafficking, attempted child sex trafficking, and conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking for his role in advertising a 15-year-old girl for prostitution on the website backpage.com on April 16, 2011.

Mabon also was found guilty of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

The evidence at trial showed that Mabon posted the advertisement to backpage.com after taking numerous photographs of the 15-year-old victim in lingerie. He and his co-defendants then drove the 15-year-old to an address provided by an individual responding to the advertisement. A suspicious neighbor contacted the Shelby County, Tenn., Sheriff's Department and deputies intervened.

A later search of Mabon's home led to the discovery of 12 live rounds of 9 mm Luger ammunition, 17 live rounds of 7.65 ammunition, 25 live rounds of .380 ammunition, 20 live rounds of .45 auto ammunition, and eight spent rounds of 7.62 ammunition. As a previously-convicted felon, Mabon was prohibited from possessing any ammunition by federal law.

Mabon faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. He will be sentenced on July 13, 2012, by Chief U.S. District Judge Jon Phipps McCalla.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/memphis-man-found-guilty-child-sex-trafficking-and-firearms-offenses