Topeka man pleads guilty to sex trafficking of a 15-year-old, gets 14 years
Authorities saw girl's picture on Backpage.com
A Topeka man was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison on a federal charge of sex trafficking of a 15-year-old girl, Kansas-based U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Wednesday.
The man, Dominique Emanuel Tyson, 25, of Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking of a child.
Tyson admitted in the plea that he took the 15-year-old girl to a motel to meet a man who had seen her picture in an advertisement on Backpage.com., a classified advertising website.
Grissom said the customer was working undercover for the Topeka Police Department and FBI, unbeknownst to Tyson.
The case began when Topeka police received a call from a community corrections officer saying the girl had run away from her placement.
A photo of the girl was spotted on Backpage.com listing her as an escort.
Grissom said on June 11, 2013, a call was made to the number on the advertisement by an undercover agent. From there, an arrangement was made by the undercover agent to meet the girl at a motel in Topeka.
Tyson dropped her off and drove away, Grissom said, but officers stopped his car, where they found a tablet computer with files containing the same photos of the girl that appeared in the ad.
