St. Louis Man Admits Transporting Minor Across State Lines for Sex

ST. LOUIS - A St. Louis man on Tuesday admitted transporting a minor from Illinois to Missouri multiple times to engage in illegal sex acts.

Curion Turner, 28, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted meeting the victim on social media around June of 2023. She was 15. He was 25 but claimed to be 17. After a series of messages via Instagram chat, many of which were sexual, Turner traveled from St. Louis to Illinois and brought the victim back to a St. Louis area hotel for sex. Turner admitted transporting the victim across state lines on about seven occasions.

Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2027. His crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Turner was sentenced in St. Louis Circuit Court in 2025 to 15 years in state prison for offenses involving different victims.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Ann Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards is prosecuting the case.

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