Man charged with pimping girl, 16, across state lines

By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER

A Washington man has been charged with pimping a 16-year-old girl he met in Tacoma across state lines.

Marquis J. Moon, 27, was indicted July 2 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on a charge of interstate transportation of a minor in the furtherance of prostitution.

Moon, who has been ordered to remain in federal custody, is scheduled for arraignment July 14 at the federal courthouse in Tacoma, court records say.

Moon, who has a lengthy criminal history, had been a fugitive since October 2007, when a federal warrant was issued for his arrest. Tacoma police nabbed him June 4 after stopping a vehicle in which he was a passenger. He initially gave police a false name and birthday, but investigators identified him through fingerprints, the FBI reported.

Moon recruited the girl in Tacoma and took her to Portland, where she briefly worked the streets before police arrested her on Sept. 29, 2007 and booked her into custody, according to court documents.

The girl's mother called authorities after her daughter ran away and told an FBI investigator that she suspected Moon was her daughter's pimp, court documents say.

Investigators fear that Moon may have victimized more young girls that they have not yet discovered, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said.