New Orleans, Louisiana – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans has announced that a 20-year-old individual named Chelse Gee, from Houston, Texas, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Darrel James Papillion in a Louisiana court on January 23, 2024.
Gee had previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14, as specified in Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 and 1591(a). The charges are related to Gee’s involvement in recruiting and bringing a thirteen-year-old female from Houston to New Orleans in June 2021, with the intention of engaging her in commercial sex acts.
As part of the sentence, Gee will serve a 30-month imprisonment term, followed by a 3-year supervised release. Additionally, Gee is required to pay a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.
Based on court documents, Gee first met her co-conspirator, Randi Lewis (also known as “Teddy” or “Teddy P.”), when she was approximately sixteen years old. Lewis convinced Gee to participate in sexual activities in exchange for money, and she agreed. Lewis also established a set of guidelines for Gee to follow, including how to behave, what to wear, who she could interact with, and how much money she was expected to earn from daily sexual acts. Furthermore, Lewis frequently monitored Gee’s whereabouts using a mobile phone application for location sharing. Additionally, Lewis regularly engaged in sexual acts with Gee and used physical force and threats of violence against her.
Lewis and Gee joined forces to encounter a thirteen-year-old individual in the Houston, Texas vicinity no later than June 21, 2021. Gee recruited the individual to engage in acts of prostitution under the guidance of Lewis and introduced them to Lewis. Lewis and Gee provided the individual with instructions and advice on how to effectively carry out acts of prostitution, including appropriate behavior, attire, strategies to identify and avoid law enforcement, and methods to attract customers. The individual agreed, and Lewis made arrangements for him, Gee, and the individual to travel to New Orleans via a Greyhound bus with the intention of engaging in acts of prostitution. From June 22 to June 24, 2021, Gee and the individual participated in multiple acts of prostitution in the New Orleans area. Lewis demanded that the individual hand over a significant portion, if not all, of the money earned from these acts.
Under the instructions of Lewis, Gee and the victim engaged in solicitation of sexual services through various methods. They would walk along the streets to find customers and Lewis also set up an online classified advertisement service commonly used for the exchange of sexual services for money. Through this online platform, Lewis would receive inquiries and messages regarding scheduling prostitution sessions with his co-conspirator and the victim. Lewis would use explicit pictures of the victim for these advertisements. To manipulate her behavior and ability to resist, Gee and Lewis would also provide the victim with illegal drugs, including marijuana. On June 24, 2021, the victim was rescued from a hotel in Terrytown, Louisiana by law enforcement.
In November 2022, Lewis faced charges related to transporting the victim. In September 2023, he received a prison sentence of 360 months, along with a lifetime of supervised release.
The aforementioned situation was presented as a component of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort initiated in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the increasing problem of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood is led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and it brings together federal, state, and local resources to find, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children sexually, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
To obtain further details about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Additionally, for more information regarding internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab.
In this case, U.S. Attorney Evans commended the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The prosecution was led by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, who heads the Public Integrity Unit.