A California woman, identified as 32-year-old Jazmin McKinnie, has entered a guilty plea in a case involving sex trafficking of a minor. This plea was submitted in front of United States District Judge Eldon E. Fallon on September 4. McKinnie is now facing a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison, along with additional punishments including supervised release, a fine, and a special assessment fee, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Details from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reveal that in May 2024, McKinnie was implicated in a scheme where two men transported a fifteen-year-old girl from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, to engage in commercial sex. It was McKinnie who posted the advertisements online for the commercial sex with the minor. When sentencing arrives on January 8, 2026, she could also face up to $250,000 in fines, three years of supervised release, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee, on top of the prison sentence.
This case is a segment of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative aiming to address the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006, the program is directed by the collaboration of multiple tiers of law enforcement, from federal to local, in efforts to locate and prosecute perpetrators of child exploitation, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Commending the investigative efforts of Homeland Security Investigations and the Kenner Police Department, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson lauded these agencies for their roles in bringing the case to a point of resolution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria M. Carboni, of the Public Integrity Unit, has been tasked with handling the prosecution. Project Safe Childhood and its mission to combat child exploitation can be explored further on their website, for those looking for additional information, as per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
