"Pimp" Pleads Guilty in Child Sex Trafficking Case

DALLAS — Edric Norvell Robinson, Sr., 45, of Dallas, pleaded guilty this week, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney, to one count of sex trafficking of children as charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas in September 2015, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Robinson, who remains in federal custody, faces a statutory penalty of not less than 10 years and up to life in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  Sentencing is set for August 10, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade.

According to documents filed in his case, from approximately April 7, 2014, through August 19, 2014, Robinson knowingly recruited, enticed, harbored and transported a minor female, whom he caused to engage in a commercial sex act.

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the Project Safe Childhood (PSC) initiative.  PSC is a department initiative launched in May 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-
facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  Since FY 2011, the Department of Justice has filed 20,260 PSC cases against 19,111 defendants.  These cases include prosecutions of child sex trafficking; sexual abuse of a minor or ward; child pornography offenses; obscene visual representation of the sexual abuse of children; selling or buying of children; and many more statutes.  To learn more about PSC’s work, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/psc.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Texas Department of Public Safety, both members of the North Texas Anti-Trafficking Taskforce (NTATT), investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cara Foos Pierce is in charge of the prosecution.

# # #