NORFOLK, Va. - A Virginia Beach man was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for drugging and prostituting a 14-year-old girl.
Joshua Manuel Treat, 20, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of children on February 24. According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, from September 26 to Oct. 12, 2016, Treat posted Jane Doe, a 14-year-old girl, on an Internet website and advertised her for prostitution. In order to make Jane Doe more amenable to prostitution, Treat would inject Jane Doe with heroin prior to her appointments with customers. When Treat was arrested, he was found with a handgun and a syringe containing heroin residue.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and James A. Cervera, Chief of Virginia Beach Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources" for more information about Internet safety education.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:16-cr-172.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
