Houston rapper gets life for sex trafficking teenagers

HOUSTON - A 29-year-old man residing in the Houston and Austin areas has been sentenced for sex trafficking three minors and an adult, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

A federal jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning the guilty verdict April 19 against Jacorey Nathaniel Anderson aka Slando Kareem following a five-day trial.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner has now sentenced Anderson to life imprisonment. At the hearing, the court heard from one of the minor victims detailing how Anderson's actions took away her childhood and the negative impact it has had on all of her relationships. In handing down the prison term, the court noted that Anderson knowingly trafficked the teenage girls. Two of those teenage girls were only 15 years of age.

"This case exemplifies how art sometimes imitates life. Anderson, a rap musician, performed vile songs glorifying the pimp/prostitute relationship," said Hamdani. "Unfortunately, for several young girls, he breathed life into his poorly crafted lyrics - providing drugs, starving and trafficking them for his own financial gain. Despite the trauma they suffered, the victims in this case bravely testified against him at trial which secured his convictions…and thanks to their bravery, Anderson's glorification of commercial sex, his human trafficking and his misogyny ends, both in art and in real life."

"Through the efforts of our special agents and law enforcement partners, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has taken another violent sex trafficker off our city streets," said acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Dallas Travis Pickard. "The victims' this defendant abused can now began their process of healing with this criminal behind bars for the remainder of his life."

At the trial, the jury saw two of Anderson's rap videos. In one of the videos, a female victim's hands and feet are bound while duct tape covers her mouth. Anderson then physically assaults the victim, slapping and choking her multiple times and warning her to close her mouth.

Anderson lured three minors and an adult to the Austin area from Houston via social media and text messages. Co-conspirator Lelonnie Stephon Jackson provided his Mercedes SUV, while another co-conspirator, Thomas Jarrett Barraza, drove the victims to an Austin-area hotel.

There, the victims received instruction to walk the "track," an area known for prostitution, and posted sexually explicit advertisements for commercial sex online. Within another 24 hours, the adult victim escaped.

Over the course of three days, the co-conspirators transported the minor female victims to a hotel in Stafford. At that time, Jackson and Barraza left Anderson and the three minor victims at the hotel and returned to the Austin area. Anderson caused the minors to post ads and engage in commercial sex at the hotel.

Within 24 hours of arrival at the hotel in Stafford, two of the minor females were able to escape. The last minor remained with Anderson for a few more weeks while he caused her to continue to engage in commercial sex.

Throughout the process, Anderson starved the victims, provided them with drugs and took all the proceeds from the commercial sex.

At the time of the trial, evidence revealed Anderson was arrested in Dallas for attempting to traffic whom he believed was a minor. However, the individual was actually an undercover officer.

The arrest led to the examination of Anderson's phone which allowed law enforcement to the identify the minor victims.

Additionally, Jackson, 33, Big Spring, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the criminal enterprise and received 60 months in prison. Barraza, 37, Austin, also pleaded guilty to his role and will remain on bond pending sentencing Nov. 12.

Anderson and Jackson have been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

HSI - Dallas and the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA) including FBI Houston and Houston Police Department (HPD) conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sherri L. Zack and Kimberly A. Leo prosecuted the case.

HTRA law enforcement includes members of the HPD, FBI, HSI, Texas Attorney General's Office, IRS Criminal Investigation, Department of Labor (DOL), 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 (OIG), 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.