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OAKLAND — Four months into an existing human trafficking case, federal prosecutors in the Bay Area have indicted a Richmond man on charges that he trafficked a minor 14 years ago.
Chase McMillon, 37, was already facing charges alleging that he trafficked a woman around the Bay Area in September 2019. But earlier this month, federal prosecutors secured an indictment hitting McMillon with two new offenses: the 14-year-old child trafficking allegation, and a new charge that he was part of a criminal conspiracy to traffic the woman last year.
The conspiracy count alleges that McMillon and uncharged co-conspirators “harbored” the woman, known in court records as “Victim 1,” in hotels around the Bay Area, including Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, and San Jose. It alleges they used “force, threats of force, fraud, and coercion to maintain, harbor, patronize and solicit Victim 1.”
The trafficking of a minor charge alleges that McMillon “did knowingly recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, maintain, patronize and solicit” a person under the age of 18.
The FBI began investigating McMillon after the alleged adult victim accused McMillon and a woman of assaulting her in Salinas after she refused to perform sex work due to back pain.
The decade-old allegations came up while authorities were investigating that incident. Evidence includes statements by the alleged victim as well as a videotape that federal prosecutors have yet to describe in public.
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