Sacramento, California - Tion Makeise Foster, 23, of Point Arena, was sentenced Monday by United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to twelve and one-half years in prison followed by ten years of supervised release for sex trafficking a minor, United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, in August 2016, Foster and his co-defendant, Monica Morales, recruited a 16-year-old girl to engage in commercial sex acts for their financial benefit.  The defendants contacted the minor using a social media website on the internet called MocoSpace.  After making initial contact, Foster and Morales drove to Yuba County, where they picked up the victim and then transported her around Northern California, where they had her engage in sex acts for their financial benefit for approximately one week.  During that time, Foster and Morales posted photos of the victim in various online prostitution advertisements.

After Foster and Morales returned the victim to Yuba County, they contacted her again using the internet in December 2016, and discussed plans to traffic her again.  While en route to pick up the victim, Foster was arrested in Citrus Heights following a local undercover operation.  In that separate state case, Foster used the internet to recruit a person he believed to be a seventeen-year old girl for sex trafficking activity, but who was in fact an undercover officer.

Codefendant Monica Morales was previously sentenced to over 10 years in prison in this case.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Michele Beckwith prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as 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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.