Arizona Man Sentenced for Attempted Transportation of a Minor with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Robert Frenchie McGriff, 44, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to 10 years in prison for attempted transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, from March through June 2019, McGriff began communicating with an individual he believed to be a minor female on Instagram. McGriff told the individual that he was a pimp and actively recruited her to work for him in Arizona as a prostitute. In June 2019, McGriff traveled by bus from Phoenix, Arizona to Turlock, California with the intent of retrieving the minor female in Turlock and transporting her to work for him as a prostitute. McGriff was thereafter arrested by law enforcement.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department's Special Prosecutions Unit and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant United States Attorneys Whitnee Goins and Shea Kenny 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the "resources" tab for information about internet-safety education