Texas woman sentenced for threatening sex trafficking victim who is set to testify
A Texas woman has been sentenced to 34 months in a federal prison for threatening a sex trafficking victim in an attempt to stop her from testifying against a suspected trafficker who was based in the Fort Worth area.
Deziree Lujan, 29, of Amarillo, was sentenced on Friday to almost three years in prison. She pleaded guilty to the charge in March.
Lujan had threatened to beat a sex trafficking victim for cooperating with federal authorities in their case against Tremont Blakemore, who was charged in September 2019 with operating a large-scale human trafficking organization that included but was not limited to Texas, California, New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North and South Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Tennessee, Hawaii and Ohio.
Blakemore was arrested in September 2019, and his trial is set for Aug. 23 in Fort Worth.
Blakemore is accused of forcing women into commercial sex, and slapping, punching, kicking and choking victims he believed were not being honest or making enough money for him.
Lujan, a member of Blakemore’s alleged organization, admitted that she called one of Blakemore’s alleged victims a “snitch” and “a rat,” according to federal authorities.
