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Date: 07-21-2017

Case Style:

United States of America v. Shatara Armstrong

Case Number: 3:17-cr-00278-K

Judge: Paul D. Stickney

Court: United Stats District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Tarrant County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Cara Foos Pierce and Myria Boehm

Defendant's Attorney: Chelsi McLarty

Description: Fort Worth, TX - Fort Worth Woman Pleads Guilty in Child Sex Trafficking Case

Shatara Armstrong, 31, of Fort Worth, Texas, pleaded guilty July 18, 2017 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney, to one count of use of a facility of interstate commerce in aid of a racketeering enterprise.

Armstrong faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Armstrong will remain on bond pending sentencing which is set for November 1, 2017.

In May 2017 a federal grand jury in Dallas returned an indictment charging Armstrong along with Marquist Fulcher, aka �Keezie,� 28, Chapoleon Fischer, aka �Kidd,� 28, Marcus Speed, 26, and Tiffany Gideon, 22 with conspiracy to engage in child sex trafficking.

According to plea documents filed in Armstrong�s case, beginning in approximately 2014, Fulcher began acting as a pimp over several young girls and women. He facilitated the commercial sex acts of: fourteen year old Jane Doe 1, seventeen year old Jane Doe 2 and seventeen year old Jane Doe 4, among others. In late 2015, Fulcher asked Armstrong to assist him in his prostitution enterprise, and she agreed to do so. Fulcher and Armstrong rented rooms at various hotels for Jane Doe l, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 4, and others, to use to engage in commercial sex acts. Fulcher and Armstrong created and posted advertisements on the commercial sex website Backpage.com for the girls and women, who in turn gave the proceeds from their commercial sex acts to Fulcher. On some occasions, when Fulcher was not present at the hotel, the girls and women gave their commercial sex proceeds to Armstrong, who later gave them to Fulcher.

Fulcher and Armstrong worked with other pimps, including Speed and Fischer, as part of their prostitution enterprise. The organization recruited victims in various ways, including finding them on the internet. Members of the group would trade girls amongst themselves as well. Some of the victims were recruited from the Dallas area, including sixteen year old Jane Doe 3. Fulcher, Speed and Fischer often rented rooms at the same hotels at the same time for their girls to engage in commercial sex acts. In addition, Armstrong sometimes rented rooms for Fischer and his girls to use to engage in commercial sex acts.

The pimps in this organization often used violence and threats of violence as a means to control the victims. Fulcher was often violent towards Armstrong in front of the girls that were working for him. This violence was meant to send a message to the others about what would happen to them if they did not do what Fulcher asked.

The Fort Worth Police Department and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement�s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), both members of the North Texas Trafficking Taskforce, investigated the case.

Outcome: Guilty

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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