NEW ORLEANS, LA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that MACEO ROBERTS (“ROBERTS”), age 25, from Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Susie Morgan to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and others by force, fraud, and coercion, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1594(c), 1591(a)(1), 1591(a)(2), 1591(b)(1), and 1591(b)(2). 

According to court documents, in about Summer 2020, ROBERTS told his co-conspirators, Dominique Peeples and Jeremy Talbert, that he was making a lot of money acting as a pimp and offered to teach them how to be pimps, as well.  After Peeples and Talbert agreed, ROBERTS “gave” Minor Victim 2, a minor female born in 2003 who had previously performed commercial sex acts under ROBERTS’s direction, to Peeples.  Thereafter, Minor Victim 2 introduced Talbert to Minor Victim 3, a minor female born in 2003, who began performing commercial sex acts under Talbert’s direction.

During Summer 2020, ROBERTS, Peeples, and Talbert travelled throughout the southern United States, including the New Orleans area, with multiple females, including Minor Victim 2, Minor Victim 3, and Adult Victim 1, for the purpose of having the females engage in commercial sex acts.  ROBERTS taught Peeples and Talbert techniques to oversee and advertise a prostitution operation, including the amount  to charge.  ROBERTS also reminded them to keep all of the proceeds.  During this time period, including while in New Orleans, Adult Victim 1 performed numerous commercial sex acts at the direction and supervision of ROBERTS; Minor Victim 2 performed numerous commercial sex acts at the direction and supervision of Peeples; and Minor Victim 3 performed numerous commercial sex acts at the direction and supervision of Talbert. 

In about October 2020, ROBERTS assumed control over Minor Victim 3, and required her to work approximately fifteen hours per day performing commercial sex acts and to give him all the money she earned.  ROBERTS beat Adult Victim 1 in front of Minor Victim 3 to show Minor Victim 3 what would happen if she did not follow his instructions.  ROBERTS also provided drugs and alcohol to Minor Victim 3 and Adult Victim 1 to control their behavior.

In about October 2020, Talbert recruited Minor Victim 1, who was a fourteen-year-old female, to engage in commercial sex acts under his direction.  In about late October 2020, ROBERTS, Peeples, Talbert, Adult Victim 1, Minor Victim 1, and Minor Victim 2 travelled to New Orleans, where they stayed for several months.  During this time, ROBERTS, Peeples, and Talbert supervised the commercial sex work of Adult Victim 1, Minor Victim 2, and Minor Victim 1, respectively.  Additionally, ROBERTS imposed rules and quotas that Adult Victim 1 had to follow and, when she did not meet those quotas or expressed reluctance, ROBERTS threatened to beat and shoot her. 

In at least January 2021, ROBERTS beat Adult Victim 1 so badly that she requited hospitalization in a New Orleans area facility.  After Adult Victim 1’s hospital discharge, ROBERTS and Peeples told Adult Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2 that they would bring them home to Memphis.  Instead, ROBERTS and Peeples drove them to Houston and forced them to engage in commercial sex acts until they finally escaped.  ROBERTS and Peeples then returned to Memphis, found Adult Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2, and beat and threatened them. 

Additionally, in about late January 2021, ROBERTS met and began recruiting Adult Victim 2 to perform commercial sex acts under his direction.  Adult Victim 2 did so until about April 2022.  During that time, she performed numerous commercial sex acts at ROBERTS’s direction in multiple locations, including New Orleans, Memphis, Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Biloxi.  Adult Victim 2 gave all, or most, of the money she received from the commercial sex acts she performed to ROBERTS.  ROBERTS repeatedly beat, threatened, and victimized Adult Victim 2, including in November 2021 at a New Orleans area hotel, an event that was captured on a telephone recording.  In about April 2022, shortly before his arrest, ROBERTS punched Adult Victim 2 so hard that he shattered her front teeth.

ROBERTS faces up to life imprisonment, supervised release after his term of imprisonment of between five years and life, a fine of up to $250,000, and a mandatory $100.00 special assessment fee.  ROBERTS will also be required to participate in the sex offender registration and notification program and be ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his offenses.  Sentencing before Judge Morgan has been scheduled for October 8, 2024.

Talbert and Peeples previously pleaded guilty to sex trafficking crimes.  Talbert’s sentencing before Judge Africk is set for October 2, 2024 and Peeples’s sentencing is set for October 30, 2024 before Judge Vance.

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.”

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Memphis Police Department in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorneys Maria Carboni of the Financial Crimes Unit and Jordan Ginsberg, Supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit, are in charge of the prosecution.