Registered Sex Offender Charged with Sex Trafficking Children by Force

WASHINGTON – Linwood Barnhill, 59, a registered sex offender living in the District of Columbia, was arrested on May 1, 2025, and federally charged with sex trafficking children by force and related counts. The alleged offenses occurred between April 1, 2024, and April 29, 2025.

The criminal complaint was announced today by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr., FBI Special Agent in Chief Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Barnhill, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, is charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion; sex trafficking of children; coercion and enticement; transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; and interstate travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises. According to the complaint, the defendant allegedly recruited a series of minor children to engage in commercial sex acts and financially profited from those commercial sex acts.

This case is being investigated by FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Burrell.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.