Underage sex ring busted in Jacksonville, TX, but who are the clients?

Jacksonville, TX:

East Texas media draw straws to what news outlets will and will not report about Cherokee County. Locals often have to look to news outside the region to get a glimpse of what is actually going on in their own neighborhoods. KLTV located in Tyler, TX lost the coin tossed and is the only only news agency in East Texas reporting on the ongoing federal trial of Desnique Deshawn Herndon, a 26 year-old pimp from Jacksonville, TX charged with the sex trafficking of minors. Don't expect the names of clients to be released by agencies working the case.  (Source: United States v. Herndon, 6:21-CR-00054-JCB)

Desnique Deshawn Herndon under federal retainer for pimping underage girls (Courtesy: Gregg County)

Desnique Herndon is one of four named in an indictment for the sex trafficking of children. Even though he faces up to life in prison, Herndon's ongoing federal trial gets mediocre coverage by only one Tyler based reporter, assigned to cover the Eastern District of Texas. (Source: More victims take stand in trial of Jacksonville man accused of child sex trafficking, Jun. 22, 2023, KLTV)

Those who do not report the news are complicit in the crimes they cover up.

Desnique Herndon was charged with the sex trafficking in Aug 2021 and awaited trial for nearly two years. Two of Herndon’s co-defendants are also from Jacksonville, TX.  Malcolm Kadeem Roberts, Tavarus D. Watkins and Patrick Lamont Cross have pleaded guilty in the case and are waiting for sentencing. Their arrests were reported in 2021, again only by KLTV Tyler.

2 East Texans accused of trafficking minors for sex, Sep. 30, 2021, KLTV

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A Tyler man and Jacksonville man are two named in a child sex trafficking ring indicted by a federal grand jury.

Malcolm Kadeem Roberts, 25, of Tyler, and Desnique Herndon, 25, of Jacksonville, are named in the six-count indictment.

According to the text of the indictment, both men “recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, advertised” or benefited financially from children engaging in a commercial sex act.

The recently unsealed indictment says five of the victims were under the age of 18 and one was under the age of 14. The indictment lists three other defendants.

It is unconscionable for the same community to laud predators while remaining silent on juvenile sex crime victims living next door. Instead of reporting the conclusion of a successful takedown of a child sex exploitation ring, East Texas media is dead air. Desnique Herndon was the local paper's hometown champion while he was attending Jacksonville ISD. His string of arrests in Cherokee and neighboring counties began when he 18-years old. They include assault and multiple burglaries throughout the area.

Jacksonville Middle School basket star Desnique Herndon and friends, circa 2010 (Courtesy: Jacksonville Progress)

 

June 27, 2023: After a five-day trial in federal court, Desnique Herndon was convicted on all child sex trafficking charges. Names of his customers have not been released, and no arrests of his regular clientele have been reported.

According to court documents, starting in 2019 Herndon engaged in trafficking several teenage girls for commercial sex acts. Prosecutors stated that he recruited the girls through social media, “deceived them by promising riches,” and put them in hotels in the Tyler area.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said he posted advertisements on sex trafficking websites showing explicit pictures of the girls and offering “commercial sex acts.” Some of the victims were as young as 13 years old, according to the release. (Source:  Jacksonville man convicted for trafficking teenage girls for ‘commercial sex acts’ - KETK )