North Texas man admits to child sex trafficking

DALLAS — A North Texas man pleaded guilty Oct. 17 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver to one count of conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.

This guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. This case was investigated by Fort Worth (Texas) Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); both are members of the North Texas Trafficking Task Force.

Marquist Fulcher, aka “Keezie,” 28, of Fort Worth, Texas, faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Fulcher will remain in custody pending sentencing which is set for Jan. 31, 2018.

In May 2017, a federal grand jury in Dallas returned an indictment charging Fulcher with conspiracy to engage in child sex trafficking. The following four co-defendants were also charged in this indictment: Chapoleon Fischer, aka “Kidd,” 28, Shatara Armstrong, 31, Marcus Speed, 26, and Tiffany Gideon, 22.

According to plea documents filed in Fulcher’s case, in early 2015, Fulcher began acting as a pimp over Gideon, and eventually several other young girls and women. Specifically, between 2015 and Oct. l, 2016, he facilitated the commercial sex acts of 13-year-old Jane Doe 1, 17-year-old Jane Doe 2, and 17-year-old Jane Doe 4, among others. In late 2015, Armstrong began assisting Fulcher in his prostitution enterprise.  Fulcher and Armstrong rented rooms at various hotels for Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 4, and others, to use to engage in commercial sex acts. Both Fulcher and Armstrong knew these girls were underage because they told them. Fulcher and Armstrong also created and posted ads on the commercial sex website Backpage.com for the girls and women, who in turn gave to Fulcher the proceeds from their commercial sex acts.

Fulcher also worked with other pimps, including Speed and Fischer, as part of a sex trafficking enterprise. This organization recruited victims in various ways, including finding them on the internet. Members of the group traded girls amongst themselves as well.  The pimps in this organization, including Fulcher, used violence and threats of violence as a means to control their victims.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cara Foos Pierce, Myria Boehm and P.J. Meitl, Northern District of Texas, are prosecuting this case.