SC Man Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Pregnant 17-Year Old

WASHINGTON, VA — Rodregiz Antwon Cole, 37, of Manning, South Carolina, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to 15 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for sex trafficking a pregnant girl in D.C., according to a release.

At the time of the offense in April 2019, Cole was a registered sex offender.

Cole pleaded guilty on May 20, 2021, to one count of sex trafficking and one count of the commission of a crime against a minor victim while on sex offender registration status, authorities say.

In April 2019, the victim first made contact with Cole via a sexual solicitation ad online. At the time, the victim was 17 years old and pregnant. When Cole first learned from the victim how old she was, he declined to engage her in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit, officials said.

However, he later changed his mind and took the teen and two adult women to the "Track," in D.C. While there, the victim took part in at least six commercial sex "dates" and Cole kept all the money she earned, according to court documents.

As part of an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, police arrested Cole on April 5, 2019. When they arrested Cole, he was in possession of the money earned by the minor victim and the two women. He also had two cellphones that contained communications about his commercial sex enterprise.

Cole was a registered sex officer due to a 2018 conviction in South Carolina.