Date: 04-19-2017

Case Style:

Case Number: 3:13-cr-00128-L

Judge: Sam A. Lindsay

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Car Foos Pierce and Andrew Wirmani

Defendant's Attorney: Sonja McGill, Bill Stewart, Vic Vital

Description: Dallas, TX - Dallas Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Federal Prison for Kidnapping Charges

Defendant Planned to Sell Victim into Sex Slavery

Steric Paul Mitchell, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to serve a total of 420 months in federal prison for his role in the May 2012 kidnapping of a female victim whom he planned to sell into sex slavery, announced John Parker, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Mitchell was convicted following a two-week trial in August 2015 on one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of kidnapping. Mitchell’s coconspirator in the case, Gregory Steven Hunt, aka “K.C.,” 43, pleaded guilty in April 2015 to one count of kidnapping and was sentenced to 204 months in federal prison.

“The sentence imposed today reflects the egregiousness of Mitchell’s conduct in this case,” said U.S. Attorney Parker. “It is difficult to imagine the level of suffering his victim experienced. The sentence handed down today takes into account that suffering and ensures that Mitchell will never again commit such crimes.”

According to evidence presented at Mitchell’s trial and documents filed in the case, Mitchell and Hunt knew each other from the neighborhood, and in early May 2012, Mitchell hired Hunt to pick up the victim at a hotel and transport her to another location under the ruse that Hunt was taking her to a private party. In fact, Hunt and Mitchell planned to kidnap and sexually assault her. Hunt was also supposed to pay another woman, R.E., $100 when he picked up the victim from the motel, and Hunt understood he would get to have sex with the victim as part of the agreement.

R.E. told the victim that she had a “good friend” who wanted to hire a private dancer for a party and that the men were “safe.” At a Dallas hotel, R.E. introduces the victim to Hunt, who pays R.E. the $100 and then drives the victim to an abandoned house in Dallas where Mitchell was waiting.

At the abandoned house, Mitchell threatened the victim with a firearm and shocked her with a Taser to frighten and restrain her. Hunt then raped her while Mitchell stood guard with a firearm. Mitchell then shocked her again with a Taser, bound her ankles and wrists, wrapped her in a bed sheet, carried her to another motor vehicle, and put her in the backseat. He then drove the victim to a second location, tied her to a chair, drugged her, then raped her and told her he planned to sell her into sexual slavery. He held her overnight at that location. Later, he again bound her, wrapped her in a bed sheet again, put her in the backseat of a vehicle, and drove her to a house in Duncanville, Texas, where he sexually assaulted her. At this third location, the victim was able to locate a cell phone and place four 911 calls; officers with the Duncanville Police Department found and rescued her.

The FBI and the Duncanville Police Department investigated.

Outcome: Defendant was to serve a total of 420 months in federal.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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