Dallas man pleads guilty to running violent sex trafficking organization
A 42-year-old Dallas man has pleaded guilty to human trafficking after he was charged in September 2019, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
Tremont Blakemore, who called himself “Macknificent,” pleaded guilty Wednesday to sex trafficking through force, fraud and coercion in front of U.S. District Judge Ada Brown. Blakemore admitted in plea papers to running a large human trafficking organization in which he threatened “grotesque violence to force women to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit,” according to the release.
Blakemore made women travel across the country to engage in commercial sex acts, advertising them on websites like Backpage.com, and demanded that the women turn over all the money and get his permission for personal spending, according to the Justice Department.
He would use violence when his victims would disobey him by doing things like leaving the house without his permission or keeping money for themselves, according to the Justice Department. Victims told law enforcement he would slap, punch, choke, kick and burn them with cigarettes.
“I’m going to make an example out of someone soon,” Blakemore said in a group text to his victims, according to the news release. “I will not continue to tolerate disrespect that’s one of my biggest pet peeves.”
Blakemore said he used money from his victims’ sexual encounters to buy luxury goods including gold and diamond jewelry and Rolex watches, in part to recruit additional victims, according to the Justice Department.
Blakemore faces up to 20 years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department. Charges were filed after investigations by the Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office, Oakridge police, Dallas police, the FBI Dallas Field Office and the North Texas Traffick Task Force. Melanie Smith and Nicole Dana, assistant U.S. district attorneys, prosecuted the case.
