A Memphis man admitted on July 22 to prostituting a teenager in St. Louis, pleading guilty to one count of sex trafficking of a minor in U.S. District Court.
Mack Mitchell, 35, acknowledged meeting the victim on Tag, a social media app, when she was about 14 years old and corresponding with her for several years. On February 23, 2024, after learning that Mitchell had traveled from Memphis to St. Louis, the victim contacted him and asked him to pick her up from foster care. Within half an hour of learning her location, Mitchell arranged for an Uber to bring her to a gas station in south St. Louis. He then picked her up and took her to a casino hotel where an associate photographed her and posted the images online. The victim engaged in commercial sex acts at the hotel and gave the money earned to Mitchell’s associate, who then passed it along to Mitchell.
Mitchell’s trial was set for Wednesday but did not proceed due to his plea. Sentencing is scheduled for October 21; the charge carries a potential sentence of ten years to life imprisonment.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department Special Investigations Unit and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dianna Edwards and Michael Hayes are prosecuting.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, which was launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 as a nationwide initiative targeting child sexual exploitation and abuse through coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local agencies.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri investigates and prosecutes federal crimes—including those involving child exploitation—and enforces civil rights across its jurisdiction of 49 counties using courthouses such as Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis; it operates under the United States Department of Justice with aims that include preventing crime and improving community well-being, according to its official website.