Omaha Man Sentenced for Sex Trafficking Minors

United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that James Hatten, II, 54, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on November 7, 2025, in federal court in Omaha for five counts of Sex Trafficking a Minor. Chief United States District Court Judge Robert R. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Hatten to 480 months’ imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently. There is no parole in the federal system. After Hatten’s release from prison, he will begin a 15-year term of supervised release. Hatten was also ordered to pay a total of $304,800.90 in restitution to his victims.

Hatten was charged with sex trafficking five different minors, spanning from May 1, 2022, through December 6, 2023, in the Omaha area. At sentencing he claimed that he did not know his actions, which involved distributing drugs to minors in exchange for sex acts, constituted sex trafficking as he was not advertising and selling the victims to other people. Calling that of no consequence, Chief Judge Rossiter said the case involved a “reprehensible crime, reprehensible conduct” on the part of Hatten and noted the significant age gap between the perpetrator and his victims in imposing the sentence.

This case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.