Dallas man sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for sex trafficking a minor

DALLAS — A Dallas man who met a 15-year-old run-away girl at a bus station, took her, and made her engage in sex acts for money, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 15 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas announced this sentence. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Dallas Police Department investigated this case.

In June 2014, Dereck Johnson, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking children. According to documents filed in the case and information revealed at the Sept. 15 sentencing hearing, on June 1, 2012, a 15-year old girl, "Jane Doe," took $200 from her father before spending the night at a friend's house. While there, she asked a friend to drive her to a Greyhound station where she bought a ticket, with several transfers, to Arizona where a friend lived. Her bus stopped at the Greyhound station in downtown Dallas where Johnson approached her. Jane Doe told Johnson she was 15 and that her parents did not know where she was. Johnson told her to go with him, and he would help her find Wi-Fi for her phone. Instead, he called a friend who picked them up and eventually took them to his home.

While at the house, Johnson used methamphetamine and then forced Jane Doe to use it. Johnson then sexually assaulted Jane Doe. When Johnson's friend came home and discovered Jane Doe was underage, he made them leave. Johnson's friend then drove them back to the Greyhound bus station where Johnson and Jane Doe took a taxi to a Flying J Truck stop. There, they got a ride from a truck driver to a Love's truck stop near another Greyhound station in Dallas. At that bus station, Jane Doe used a Greyhound employees' cellphone to call her father to come pick her up, but she was unable to describe exactly where she was. She rushed off the phone, and Johnson was waiting for her. He told her not to contact her father again, that she was staying with him, and she needed to come with him. Jane Doe's father called the number back and spoke to a Greyhound employee, who told him Jane Doe had left with a man.

Johnson took Jane Doe back to the Love's truck stop with him, where he begged for money. Johnson found a truck driver who was willing to drive them to Houston, where they were dropped off at a Flying J truck stop. Johnson told Jane Doe they needed to make money so she needed to go into a specific man's truck cab. After entering the man's truck cab, the man repeatedly raped her and then provided Johnson compensation for the sex. Johnson forced Jane Doe to engage in several commercial sex acts while at the truck stop.

A few days later, on June 5, 2012, Johnson sent her to take a shower, and while she was in the bathroom at the truck stop, she plugged in her prepaid cellphone and was able to send out a text message for the first time since arriving at the truck stop. She was rescued soon thereafter by a local family member.

At sentencing, the now 18-year-old Jane Doe read a victim impact statement addressing the court, speaking to Dereck Johnson. In that statement, Jane Doe read, "I heard you screaming at me telling me I was worthless… but you started the fire behind my drive and after that you stood no chance. I know you can't stand the fact that I no longer fear you. That nobody will ever fear you again… That I survived when you didn't, that you are alone. So knowing that is punishment enough for me." She continued, "No one is ever going to be able to trick me again, not like you did."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cara Foos Pierce, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.