2012 Missouri Revised Statutes
TITLE XXXVIII CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT; PEACE OFFICERS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS
Chapter 566 Sexual Offenses
Section 566.212 Sexual trafficking of a child--penalty.

566.212. 1. A person commits the crime of sexual trafficking of a child if the individual knowingly:

(1) Recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means, including but not limited to through the use of force, abduction, coercion, fraud, deception, blackmail, or causing or threatening to cause financial harm, a person under the age of eighteen to participate in a commercial sex act, a sexual performance, or the production of explicit sexual material as defined in section 573.010, or benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in such activities; or

(2) Causes a person under the age of eighteen to engage in a commercial sex act, a sexual performance, or the production of explicit sexual material as defined in section 573.010.

2. It shall not be a defense that the defendant believed that the person was eighteen years of age or older.

3. Sexual trafficking of a child is a felony punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not less than ten years or life and a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars if the child is under the age of eighteen. If a violation of this section was effected by force, abduction, or coercion, the crime of sexual trafficking of a child shall be a felony for which the authorized term of imprisonment is life imprisonment without eligibility for probation or parole until the defendant has served not less than twenty-five years of such sentence.

(L. 2004 H.B. 1487, A.L. 2011 H.B. 214)

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