California Man Charged in Sex Trafficking of Detroit Teen Accepts Plea

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A California man who lured a Detroit teen into interstate prostitution after forcing her to perform sex acts near the Detroit Jazz Festival last year could up to 27 years in prison when he is sentenced in November.

Kevin Brian Keys, 37, of Los Angeles, reportedly kidnapped the 16-year-old and took her on a cross-country sex tour and sold her online for sex with customers while authorities in Michigan searched for her, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press report.

Keys, who goes by “Stac a Dollar,” pleaded guilty in federal court on Aug. 10 to one count of transporting a minor to engage in prostitution. His trial was to have begun on Aug. 25. Initially, Keys was also charged with sex trafficking of a minor, production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Keys will serve at least 10 years in prison under the agreement, but federal prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to between 21 and 27 years in prison, the Free Press said. The judge isn’t bound by prosecutors’ recommendations.

Prosecutors allege that Keys invited the teen, who reportedly was traveling between homes in Metro Detroit, to the Jazz Fest and told her “she needed to make some money in order for them to leave Michigan, meaning prostitute herself out,” Theodore Wolters, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a court filing.

Prosecutors said Keys promised the teen they could make “a lot of money if she performed commercial sex dates” and that he had done the same with a girl in California. He reportedly rented a tent near the Jazz Festival, and the girl performed sex acts for $50 to $100. Prosecutors said Keys kept the money and bought a Mega Bus ticket for himself and the teen.

Keys allegedly planned to hide the girl away until she turned 18, but she became ill in Minnesota and underwent treatment at a hospital, where her true identity was discovered. She was reunited with her family on Sept. 7.

Authorities began investigating Keys in early 2015 after linking him to a cell phone the girl had used to call her mother. They searched Keys’ computer, and discovered conversations that had taken place on Facebook where Keys allegedly tried to sell the teen for sex. He attached a nude photo of her engaging in a sex act, according to court records.

The investigation against Keys was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations’ Operation Predator, established in 2003. Since then, investigators have arrested more than 12,000 people for sex crimes against children. Last year alone, more than 2,300 alleged predators were arrested and more than 1,000 victims were identified and rescued.

Human trafficking is a $32 billion global industry, according to the International Labour Organization. About half of that activity takes place in industrialized nations, and women and girls are most often trafficked. The ILO said that in developed countries, women and children make up 11.4 million of victims (55 percent) are trafficked, compared with 9.5 million (45 percent) men.

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