Gang member sentenced to 29 years for role in sex trafficking operation

HOUSTON - A 27-year-old member of the Forum Park Crips has been ordered to federal prison for sex trafficking young teenage girls, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Damarquis McGee aka Lilblue pleaded guilty Aug. 26, 2024.

U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. has now ordered McGee to serve 348 months in federal prison. At the hearing, the court heard information and evidence detailing McGee's exploitation and victimization of numerous teenage girls. In handing down the prison terms, the court noted that McGee's conduct was "horrific" and that McGee was "every parent's worst nightmare." The court emphasized that in exploiting his victims through force, violence, threats, rape and coercion, McGee used the victims for his own entertainment and tossed them aside. He will serve 15 years on supervised release following the completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. McGee will also be ordered to register as a sex offender. Restitution will be determined at a later date.

"McGee systematically exploited young teenage girls for personal gain, using violence, intimidation, and fear. For far too long, these young girls were treated as commodities, instead of people," said Ganjei. "Today's sentence cannot erase the trauma the victims endured, but it does affirm a fundamental truth: their lives have value, their voices matter, and those who abused them will be held accountable."

From April 2019 to February 2020, McGee and others worked to recruit young teenage girls and forced them to engage in sex acts with "clients" for money in cars and motels around the Bissonnet "blade" or "track."

The Bissonnet blade is an area near I-59 Southwest Freeway and Bissonnet Street in Houston where pimps and traffickers commonly place their victims to engage in commercial sex.

McGee and others passed around or reassigned victims amongst one another, taught each other "the pimp game" and forced young girls to walk the blade while they kept the proceeds.

To switch between pimps, the young girls had to pay an exit fee or get "beat out." Some traffickers required daily quotas each night from their victims. If the victims failed to meet their daily quotas, they were severely punished through beatings and humiliation.

Co-conspirators Michael Anthony Gonzalez aka Mumbles, 29, Jerreck Michael Hilliard aka Jmoney, 37, and Javon Yaw Opoku aka Glizzy, 25, all of Houston, were previously sentenced to 240, 292 and 365 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the sex trafficking conspiracy.

McGee will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kate Suh, Anthony Franklyn, Amanda R. Alum, and former AUSA Richard W. Bennett prosecuted the case.

The Houston Police Department conducted the investigation as part of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance with the assistance of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations and Harris County District Attorney's Office.

HTRA law enforcement includes members of HPD, FBI, ICE-HSI, Texas Attorney General's Office, IRS Criminal Investigation, Department of Labor, DOL - Wage and Hour Division, Department of State, Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission, Texas Department of Public Safety, Department of Homeland Security - Office of Inspector General, Social Security Administration - OIG and Sheriff's Offices in Harris and Montgomery counties in coordination with District Attorney's offices in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties.

Established in 2004, the United States Attorney's office in Houston formed HTRA to combine resources with federal, state and local enforcement agencies and prosecutors, as well as non-governmental service organizations to target human traffickers while providing necessary services to those that the traffickers victimized. Since its inception, HTRA has been recognized as both a national and international model in identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking and prosecuting those engaged in trafficking offenses.