A St. Louis County man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for sex trafficking a runaway teenager. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens sentenced Rodarius Servick, 51, to 125 months in prison and ordered him to serve 15 years of supervised release following his incarceration.
According to court documents, Servick met the 17-year-old victim in August 2024 through a social media application. He persuaded her to work as a prostitute and instructed her to lie about her age. Servick then transported the girl from Illinois to Missouri, managed online advertisements for commercial sex acts, set prices, and collected all proceeds. Servick admitted these actions as part of his guilty plea in September to one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Authorities became aware of the situation on September 13, 2024, after learning that a runaway juvenile was being trafficked. Detectives located the girl's photo online and conducted an undercover operation led by the St. Louis County Police Department that resulted in her recovery days later.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the St. Louis County Police Department, and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards prosecuted the case.
"This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice," according to information provided by authorities. "Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims." More details about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
