United States Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña
Northern District of Texas

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

LUBBOCK WOMAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR
CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING CONSPIRACY

Defendant Conspired to Place Minor Female in Prostitution

LUBBOCK, Texas — Megan Lee Norman, 19, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to five years in federal prison following her guilty plea in August 2011 on a charge of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a child, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Norman has been in custody since her arrest on March 30, 2011, by officers of the Lubbock Police Department, on related charges.

Norman and Chanze Lamount Pringler, 25, were arrested after being implicated in a prostitution operation in Lubbock that advertised the prostitution services of Norman and a teenage female. Pringler was convicted by a jury of sex trafficking of a child on August 24, 2011, and was sentenced to 405 months imprisonment on December 22, 2011. Norman admitted in her guilty plea that she and Pringler had conspired to involve the teenage female in prostitution during March of 2011. Norman took photographs of the minor female and posted them on the Internet to advertise “escort” services.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

The case was investigated by the Lubbock Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven M. Sucsy and Amy Burch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, prosecuted.

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