KC Man Indicted for Attempted Sex Trafficking of Minor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for the attempted sex trafficking of a minor.

Andrew Danny Freeman, 32, of Kansas City, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a criminal complaint that was filed against Freeman on Dec. 16, 2016. Freeman remains in federal custody without bond.

The federal indictment alleges that Freeman solicited a person he believed to be under the age of 18 to engage in prostitution on Dec. 15, 2016.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, an undercover officer received a series of text messages from Freeman on Dec. 15, 2016, in response to an online posting that was part of an undercover prostitution operation. Freeman allegedly made arrangements to meet the undercover officer and whom he believed to be her 12-year-old daughter at a local hotel. When he arrived for the meeting, the affidavit says, he gave the undercover officer $500 and was arrested.

Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Daly. It was investigated by the FBI and the Human Trafficking Rescue Project.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."