A member of the Forum Park Crips gang in Houston has been sentenced to 29 years in federal prison for his involvement in a sex trafficking operation that exploited teenage girls. The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Damarquis McGee, also known as Lilblue, pleaded guilty on August 26, 2024. U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. handed down a sentence of 348 months in federal prison following evidence that detailed McGee’s exploitation and victimization of several teenage girls.
During the hearing, Judge Hanks described McGee’s actions as “horrific” and said he was “every parent’s worst nightmare.” The court highlighted that McGee used force, violence, threats, rape, and coercion against his victims and then discarded them after exploiting them for personal entertainment.
After completing his prison term, McGee will serve 15 years on supervised release with restrictions on access to children and the internet. He is also required to register as a sex offender. Restitution will be determined at a later date.
“McGee systematically exploited young teenage girls for personal gain, using violence, intimidation, and fear. For far too long, these young girls were treated as commodities, instead of people,” said Ganjei. “Today’s sentence cannot erase the trauma the victims endured, but it does affirm a fundamental truth: their lives have value, their voices matter, and those who abused them will be held accountable.”
From April 2019 to February 2020, McGee and others recruited teenage girls and forced them into commercial sex acts with clients in cars and motels around an area known as the Bissonnet “blade” or “track,” near I-59 Southwest Freeway and Bissonnet Street in Houston.
Victims were passed between traffickers or reassigned among them while being taught aspects of pimping referred to as “the pimp game.” The traffickers kept all proceeds from the victims’ activities.
Switching between pimps often required paying an exit fee or being subjected to beatings—referred to as getting “beat out.” Some traffickers set nightly quotas for their victims; failure to meet these quotas resulted in severe punishment through beatings or humiliation.
Co-conspirators Michael Anthony Gonzalez (Mumbles), Jerreck Michael Hilliard (Jmoney), and Javon Yaw Opoku (Glizzy) were previously sentenced to prison terms ranging from 240 to 365 months for their roles in the same conspiracy.
McGee remains in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kate Suh, Anthony Franklyn, Amanda R. Alum, and former AUSA Richard W. Bennett.
The investigation was led by the Houston Police Department as part of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA), with support from Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
HTRA includes members from multiple agencies such as HPD, FBI, ICE-HSI, Texas Attorney General’s Office, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division, Department of State, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Texas Department of Public Safety, Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General; Social Security Administration – OIG; sheriff’s offices in Harris and Montgomery counties; along with district attorney offices from Harris County and surrounding areas.
The United States Attorney’s office in Houston established HTRA in 2004 to combine resources across federal agencies—including more than 200 attorneys covering over nine million residents across 43 counties—as well as state authorities and non-governmental organizations for targeting human traffickers while providing services for victims (official website). Since its founding it has become recognized nationally and internationally for its work identifying victims and prosecuting trafficking crimes.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas is part of the U.S. Department of Justice under the Attorney General (official website). Its history includes leaders such as Alamdar Hamdani (2022–2025) (official history page).
The office focuses on prosecuting federal crimes—including cases like this one—and handling civil cases involving government interests (official website). It operates out of offices located throughout Houston; Galveston; Corpus Christi; Laredo; McAllen; Brownsville (official website).
