OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In a news release on Monday, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City and Acting United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Sidney Marker, 28, of Seward, Nebraska, was sentenced today in an Omaha federal court for a conspiracy to sex traffic minors. The convicted was the result of the Department of Homeland Security working with other law enforcement agencies.
Marker was sentenced to 15 years in prison. She will serve five years of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.
On Nov. 8, Marker's co-defendant Carney Turner, 42, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced to life imprisonmenton one count of conspiracy to sex traffic minors, three counts of sex trafficking of a minor, and two counts of enticement of a minor. Chief Judge Rossiter also sentenced co-defendant Julisha Biggs, 20, of Omaha, to 87 months’ imprisonment for her role in the conspiracy.
According to the news release:
"Law enforcement began investigating in September 2020 after discovering electronic messages between a minor female and Turner during a separate sex trafficking investigation. The minor female was interviewed and reported that she had been sex trafficked by Turner for approximately three months and that Turner had kept money from the sex sales.
In October 2020, a second minor female reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a man in a hotel room after Turner brought her to the hotel and paid her to meet with the man. In November 2020, a third minor female was reported missing from her foster home and law enforcement observed that she was being posted in online sex advertisements by a phone number associated with Turner.
Evidence uncovered by law enforcement showed that Marker met Turner while Turner was serving a state sentence and Marker was employed in the correctional facility as a caseworker. Marker then went on to work as a foster care specialist and a family support specialist. After Turner’s release from prison, Marker, Turner and Biggs resided together in an apartment in Ralston, Nebraska. Turner recruited, advertised, and arranged commercial sex sales for minors between approximately January 2020 and February 2021.
The sex sales took place at hotels in and around Omaha, as well as at the apartment, which had been leased by Marker. At least one of the minors also stayed at the apartment for a period of time. Marker provided vehicles to transport the minors to hotels for commercial sex acts and assisted with renting hotel rooms. The minor who had been reported missing in November 2020 had been recruited by Biggs to come work for Turner.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov."
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