St. Louis County Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney’s Office Team Up to Prosecute Sex Trafficking Suspect

A Blaine man will spend the next 23 and a half years behind bars on sex trafficking charges. 

The St. Louis County Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office partnered up in the prosecution of 36-year-old Rahmad Lashad Geddes. 

Geddes was convicted in April on charges of sex trafficking, prostitution and being an armed career criminal in possession of a firearm. 

The charges stem from Geddes trafficking an 18-year-old woman from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Duluth for the purpose of commercial sex. 

Geddes and a friend took the victim to a motel in Duluth, where they took pictures of her to place an advertisement for sex on backpages.com. 

Geddes and his friend used the victim’s cell phone to set up several “dates” with men.   Following one date with a “john”,  Geddes accused the victim of hiding money and physically assaulted her .

On one occassion, Geddes traded drugs for two semi-automatic handguns and ammunition.  He has four prior felony convictions in Cook County, Illinois, Hennepin and Sherburne Counties, which makes him not eligible to possess a handgun. 

On January 14, 2014, Geddes returned the victim to her home.  The woman immediately reported to her pastor that she “had been used for prostitution.” 

The case was investigated by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Duluth Police Department and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.