The United States Attorney's Office

FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED ON FEDERAL SEX TRAFFICKING CHARGES FOR PROSTITUTING GIRL HE SOLICITED ON INTERNET

A Florida man was arrested last night by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department on federal charges that he prostituted a 17-year-old girl he solicited through her page on the MySpace website and then offered her services on Craigslist.

Christopher Tyrone Young, also known as “Staydown,” 28, of Orlando, Florida, was arrested last night in San Diego after being named in a criminal complaint filed Monday in United States District Court in Santa Ana. The complaint charges Young with one count of sex trafficking of children.

The investigation into Young began on March 24 after investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department arrested a 17-year-old girl on prostitution charges. After it was learned that the girl was a runaway minor from Florida, investigators determined that she was working for a pimp that the girl later identified as Young, according to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint.

Young allegedly contacted the girl last October and, after promising to make her a “star,” gave her a bus ticket from Florida to Las Vegas, Nevada. Following a three-day bus trip from Florida to Las Vegas, Young brought the girl to Orange County, where he had her work as a prostitute. Using sexually explicit photos he took of the girl, Young placed an ad on the Craigslist website for Orange County that offered sexual services, the affidavit alleges. Young later had the girl working as a prostitute by walking streets in the California cities of Anaheim, Pomona and Montclair, as well as in Las Vegas. The affidavit also alleges that Young had sex with the girl and provided her with the drug ecstasy.

Young is expected to make his initial court appearance this afternoon in federal court in Santa Ana.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

The charge of sex trafficking of children carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

This case was investigated by the Southern Central California Innocence Lost Task Force (SOCAIL), which is led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The mission of the SOCAIL Task Force is to provide a rapid and effective investigative response to federal crimes involving child prostitution, reduce the vulnerability of children to acts of sexual exploitation, and strengthen law enforcement capabilities through training programs and investigative assistance. The SOCAIL Task Force is made up of agents and officers from the FBI, the California Department of Justice, the Costa Mesa Police Department, the Pomona Police Department, the Ontario Police Department and the Riverside Police Department. Assistance in this investigation was provided by the Los Angeles Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

ReleaseNo. 09-048
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