DALLAS — A Dallas man who referred to as himself “Macknificent” pleaded responsible at this time to human trafficking, introduced U.S. Legal professional for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

Tremont Blakemore, 42, was first arrested in September 2018 and later charged in September 2019. He pleaded responsible Wednesday to intercourse trafficking by means of pressure, fraud and coercion earlier than U.S. District Choose Ada Brown. 

In response to Dallas police again in 2018, Blakemore’s group had connections to a number of cities in Texas and all through the nation. 

Officers executed a search warrant in 2018 at three places: within the 12400 block of Yellow Wooden Drive in Fort Value; 4500 block of Marcell Avenue in Dallas and 1700 block of Overlook Drive in Lancaster.

Blakemore was the pinnacle of the prostitution group and maintained a gaggle of 20 girls and prostituted them for the group’s revenue, police mentioned.

Blakemore systematically “brutalized his victims” and satisfied them that they had no alternative however to reside by his orders, in keeping with U.S. Legal professional Chad Meacham.

“We fashioned the North Texas Trafficking Job Pressure – a coalition of federal, state, and native regulation enforcement devoted to ending the scourge of human trafficking – to pursue instances similar to this one,” Meacham mentioned. “We hope that this responsible plea shall be a balm to survivors as they work to rebuild their lives.”

In plea papers, Blakemore admitted to operating a large-scale human trafficking group, utilizing the specter of grotesque violence to pressure girls to interact in business intercourse acts for his monetary profit, in keeping with the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace.

“This defendant’s period of coercing and violently forcing people into the perils of intercourse trafficking is over due to the work of our particular brokers and regulation enforcement companions who investigated and arrested this deviant legal,” mentioned performing Deputy Particular Agent in Cost of HIS Dallas Bradley Hudson.  “He’ll quickly face the tough realities of his transgressions as he spends portion of his life behind bars.”

Blakemore compelled girls to journey cross-country to interact in business intercourse and posted adverts for them on websites like Backpage.com. He demanded that the ladies flip all cash over to him and required them to hunt permission for private expenditures, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned.

Blakemore additionally admitted when his victims disobeyed his “guidelines,” akin to leaving the home with out his permission or conserving cash for themselves, he would use violence to pressure them into submission. In response to courtroom paperwork, victims instructed regulation enforcement that he slapped, punched, choked, kicked and burned them with cigarettes.

“I’m going to make an instance out of somebody quickly,” he wrote in a gaggle textual content message to victims. “I can’t proceed to tolerate disrespect that’s considered one of my largest pet peeves.”  

In an effort to look profitable with a purpose to recruit extra victims to his trafficking group, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned Blakemore admitted that he used cash from his sufferer’s sexual encounters to buy luxurious items, together with a number of items of diamond, gold jewellery and a number of Rolex watches. He used his way of life to impress different traffickers, and even sported a number of trophies touting his success as a “pimp,” in keeping with the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace.

Blakemore now faces as much as 20 years in federal jail. His sentencing has been set for October 6.

Homeland Safety Investigations’ Dallas Subject Workplace performed the investigation with the help of the Oakridge Police Division, the Dallas Police Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Subject Workplace, and the North Texas Trafficking Job Pressure’s regulation enforcement companions. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melanie Smith and Nicole Dana prosecuted the case.