Oakland, California - Eugene Latrell McNeely, aka Sleepy, aka Slim Sleep da Mac, pleaded guilty in federal court to transportation of a minor with intent to prostitute, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett. The Honorable James Donato, U.S. District Judge, accepted the plea.

In pleading guilty, McNeely, 36, of Oakland, admitted that on October 3, 2015, he drove from Oakland to Salem, Oregon, picked up a fourteen-year-old minor female that he had been communicating with by text message and through Facebook messenger, and drove her across state lines back to Oakland, California to work as one of his prostitutes.  For approximately three months thereafter, the minor female worked as a prostitute and McNeely was her pimp.  

On November 1, 2018, a federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment charging McNeely with one count of transportation of a minor for prostitution, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a); one count of sex trafficking of children, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(a)(1), (b)(2), and (c); and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(a)(1) and (b)(1).  McNeely pleaded guilty to the first count.  The remaining counts are pending.  

McNeely is currently in federal custody awaiting sentencing.  Judge Donato scheduled his sentencing hearing for October 16, 2019.  The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a) is life in prison, with a mandatory minimum term of ten years’ imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine.  Any sentence imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Weingarten and Shailika Kotiya are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Madeline Wachs.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Oakland Police Department.