Texas Border Business
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas
HOUSTON – A 23-year-old local man has been sentenced for sex trafficking and enticing a minor.
A federal jury deliberated for less than two days before returning guilty verdicts on two counts of sex trafficking of minors as well as coercion and enticement of a minor against Cristian Morris following a three-day trial in March 2025.
U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett has now sentenced Morris to a total of 384 months in federal prison. In handing down the prison terms, the court noted that sex trafficking is a horrible crime, made worse when minors are involved and that the victims were sentenced to a life of terrible memories. Morris was further ordered to serve 180 months on supervised release following the completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.
From Jan. 1 – June 23, 2023, Morris recruited teenage girls, gave them drugs and posted sexually explicit ads offering them for commercial sex. He forced them to engage in sex acts with clients at hotels near the “blade” in Houston and Dallas.
The blade or “track” in Houston is an area near I-59 Southwest Freeway and Bissonnet Street. The blade in Dallas is on Harry Hines Boulevard. Both locations are known areas where pimps and traffickers commonly place their victims to engage in commercial sex.
At the trial, the jury heard from three victims Morris trafficked over several months. They testified he instructed them on how to walk the blade, how much to charge and gave them condoms. The jury also learned that Morris transported them between Houston and Dallas to engage in sex acts.
Morris kept all the proceeds.
Law enforcement ultimately arrested him June 23, 2023, after he had posted commercial sex ads for the youngest victim, a 15-year-old runaway.
At the time of the trial, the defense attempted to convince the jury that the victims were just a group of runaways and school dropouts engaged in bad behavior. They did not believe those claims and found him guilty as charged.
Morris will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
FBI and Houston Police Department conducted the investigation as part of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance.
HTRA law enforcement includes members of HPD, FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Texas Attorney General’s Office, IRS Criminal Investigation, Department of Labor, DOL – Wage and Hour Division, Department of State, Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission, Texas Department of Public Safety, Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General, Social Security Administration – OIG and Sheriff’s Offices in Harris and Montgomery counties in coordination with District Attorney’s offices in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties.
Established in 2004, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Houston formed HTRA to combine resources with federal, state and local enforcement agencies and prosecutors, as well as non-governmental service organizations to target human traffickers while providing necessary services to those that the traffickers victimized. Since its inception, HTRA has been recognized as both a national and international model in identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking and prosecuting those engaged in trafficking offenses.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Valenti and Kimberly Leo prosecuted the case.
Updated June 10, 2026
