Date: 10-20-2017

Case Style:

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

Judge: Renee Harris Toliver

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

Plaintiff's Attorney: Cara Foos Pierce, Myria Boehm and P.J. Meitl

Defendant's Attorney: Mark Perez

Description: Fort Worth, TX - Fort Worth Man Admits to Child Sex Trafficking

Marquist Fulcher, aka “Keezie,” 28, of Fort Worth, Texas, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver, to one count of conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.

Fulcher faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Fulcher will remain in custody pending sentencing which is set for January 31, 2018.

In May 2017 a federal grand jury in Dallas returned an indictment charging Fulcher along with Chapoleon Fischer, aka “Kidd,” 28, Shatara Armstrong, 31, Marcus Speed, 26, and Tiffany Gideon, 22 with conspiracy to engage in child sex trafficking.

According to plea documents filed in Fulcher’s case, in early 2015, Fulcher began acting as a pimp over Gideon, and eventually several other young girls and women. Specifically, between 2015 and October l, 2016, he facilitated the commercial sex acts of thirteen-year-­old Jane Doe 1, seventeen-year-old Jane Doe 2 and seventeen-year-old Jane Doe 4, among others. In late 2015, Armstrong began assisting Fulcher in his prostitution enterprise. Fulcher and Armstrong rented rooms at various hotels for Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 4, and others, to use to engage in commercial sex acts. Both Fulcher and Armstrong knew these girls were underage because they told them. Fulcher and Armstrong also 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.

Fulcher also worked with other pimps, including Speed and Fischer, as part of a sex trafficking 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. The pimps in this organization, including Fulcher, used violence and threats of violence as a means to control the victims.

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

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Defendant's Experts:

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