Memphis Man Sentenced to 270 Months for Sex Trafficking Conspiracy

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that MACEO ROBERTS (“ROBERTS”), age 25, from Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced on February 12, 2025 before United States District Judge Susie Morgan for conspiring to commit sex trafficking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1594(c).

According to court documents, in about Summer 2020, ROBERTS told his co-conspirators, Dominique Peeples and Jeremy Talbert, that he was making a lot of money acting as a pimp, and offered to teach them how to be pimps, as well.  After Peeples and Talbert agreed, ROBERTS “gave” Minor Victim 2, a minor female born in 2003 who had previously performed commercial sex acts under ROBERTS’s direction, to Peeples.  Thereafter, Minor Victim 2 introduced Talbert to Minor Victim 3, a minor female born in 2003, who began performing commercial sex acts under Talbert’s direction.

During Summer 2020, ROBERTS, Peeples, and Talbert travelled throughout the southern United States, including the New Orleans area, with multiple females, including Minor Victim 2, Minor Victim 3, and Adult Victim 1, for the purpose of having the females engage in commercial sex acts.  ROBERTS taught Peeples and Talbert techniques to oversee and advertise a prostitution operation, including the amount to charge.  ROBERTS also reminded them to keep all of the proceeds.  During this time period, including while in New Orleans, Adult Victim 1 engaged in commercial sex acts at the direction and supervision of ROBERTS, while Minor Victim 2 worked for Peeples and Minor Victim 3 worked for Talbert.

In about October 2020, ROBERTS assumed control over Minor Victim 3, and required her, not only, to work approximately fifteen hours per day performing commercial sex acts, but also to give him all the money she earned.  ROBERTS beat Adult Victim 1 in front of Minor Victim 3 to show Minor Victim 3 the consequences for not following his instructions.  ROBERTS also provided drugs and alcohol to the victims to control their behavior.

In about October 2020, Talbert recruited Minor Victim 1, a fourteen-year-old female, to engage in commercial sex acts under his direction.  In about late October 2020, ROBERTS, Peeples, Talbert, Adult Victim 1, Minor Victim 1, and Minor Victim 2 travelled to New Orleans, where they stayed for several months. During this time, ROBERTS, Peeples, and Talbert supervised the commercial sex work of Adult Victim 1, Minor Victim 2, and Minor Victim 1, respectively.  ROBERTS imposed rules and quotas that Adult Victim 1 had to follow and, when she did not meet those quotas or expressed reluctance, ROBERTS threatened to beat and shoot her.

In January 2021, ROBERTS beat Adult Victim 1 so badly that she required hospitalization in a New Orleans area facility. After Adult Victim 1’s hospital discharge, ROBERTS and Peeples told Adult Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2 that they would bring them home to Memphis.  Instead, ROBERTS and Peeples drove them to Houston and forced them to engage in commercial sex acts until they finally escaped.  ROBERTS and Peeples then returned to Memphis to look for Adult Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2 to punish them for escaping.  ROBERTS located Adult Victim 1, hiding in a hotel bathtub, and choked her.  He also threatened Minor Victim 2.

Additionally, in about late January 2021, ROBERTS met and began recruiting Adult Victim 2 to perform commercial sex acts under his direction.  Adult Victim 2 did so until about April 2022.  During that time, ROBERTS repeatedly beat, threatened, and victimized Adult Victim 2, including in November 2021 at a New Orleans area hotel.  In about April 2022, shortly before his arrest, ROBERTS punched Adult Victim 2 so hard that he shattered her front teeth.

U.S. District  Judge Susie Morgan sentenced ROBERTS to 270 months’ imprisonment.  Judge Morgan ordered that this sentence be run consecutively to any sentence imposed on a pending case for attempted murder and robbery in Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis, Indiana.   Judge Morgan imposed a fifteen year term of supervised release following imprisonment. ROBERTS was ordered to pay $666,000 in restitution to the victims.  ROBERTS must also participate in the sex offender registration and notification program.  In addition, Judge Morgan imposed a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

Peeples and Talbert previously pleaded guilty to sex trafficking offenses.  Peeples’s sentencing is set for April 9, 2025, before Judge Sarah S. Vance, and Talbert’s sentencing is set for March 12, 2025, before Judge Lance M. Africk.

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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Memphis Police Department with this matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Maria Carboni of the Financial Crimes Unit and Jordan Ginsberg, Supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit.