SACRAMENTO, CA—Jamir Imari Tatum, 20, of Oakland, pleaded guilty today to distribution of child pornography, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Innocence Lost Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Reardon is prosecuting the case.
According to court documents, in January 2012, Tatum started a sexual relationship with the 14-year-old victim. On February 21, 2012, agents found Internet advertisements for the prostitution services of the girl in Stockton. These advertisements contained three sexually explicit images taken of her in Sacramento in January. The phone number on the advertisements was Tatum’s cellphone. Agents called and made a “date.” When officers arrived, they saw the 14-year-old girl on the street corner with Tatum standing approximately 50 meters away. When officers apprehended the victim, Tatum took off running but surrendered 15 minutes later after police dogs were brought into the chase.
According to court documents, the 14-year-old had been working as a prostitute for Tatum since she ran away from home in February. She said that she had given all the money that she had made to him. Text messages recovered from Tatum’s phone confirmed that he was the victim’s pimp.
Tatum is scheduled for sentencing by United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. on January 3, 2013, at 9:00 a.m. Tatum faces a potential sentence of five years to life in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “Resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.
