A man from Northwoods, St. Louis County, Missouri, has been charged with child sex trafficking. Rodarius Servick, 50, was indicted in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Thursday for one count of child sex trafficking and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Servick appeared in court and pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
The indictment alleges that Servick recruited, enticed, harbored, transported or provided a minor for a commercial sex act between August 19 and September 13, 2024. It also accuses him of transporting the minor across state lines for prostitution on August 19.
It is important to note that charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
A motion filed seeks to have Servick held in jail until trial. Law enforcement learned on September 13, 2024, about a runaway juvenile being trafficked. Detectives discovered an online advertisement featuring her picture, leading the St. Louis County Police Department to conduct an undercover operation that resulted in the recovery of the girl days later.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project aims to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet while identifying and rescuing victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.