Kai Whitney Sommers faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, prosecutors said
NEED TO KNOW
- Kai Whitney Sommers pleaded guilty to sex trafficking minors less than three months after his release from prison
- Prosecutors said Sommers used encrypted apps to recruit teenage girls and created escort ads falsely listing them as adults
- Sommers faces a maximum life sentence in federal prison with sentencing scheduled for Sept. 24
A California registered sex offender pleaded guilty to sex trafficking two teenage girls less than three months after his release from prison for prior child sex crimes, federal prosecutors announced.
Kai Whitney Sommers, a 38-year-old Ventura County resident and registered sex offender, pleaded guilty in federal court on May 14 to one count of sex trafficking of minors, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
According to prosecutors, Sommers was released from state prison in June 2023 after serving time for a 2021 Los Angeles case involving sexual offenses against a minor. In that case, prosecutors said Sommers met a minor in an online chat room and convinced her she could make money as an escort before later sexually assaulting her at his home.
After his release from prison, Sommers was placed on post-release community supervision in Los Angeles County before later transferring to Ventura County supervision, according to prosecutors' May 14 announcement. The conditions of his supervision prohibited him from possessing devices capable of accessing the internet.
Just a few months after his release from prison, Ventura County probation officers searched Sommers' home in August 2023 and discovered digital devices containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Investigators also said Sommers had been communicating with a minor on a teen-focused messaging platform around the same time.
After reviewing the devices recovered from Sommers' home, authorities determined the victims were a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl. Prosecutors said Sommers initially connected with the girls online before encouraging them to continue communicating with him through an encrypted messaging app, where he discussed ways they could make money as escorts.
According to prosecutors, Sommers convinced one of the victims to produce CSAM and persuaded the other to send photographs that he later used to create commercial sex advertisements on an adult website. The ads falsely portrayed the girls as “18-year-old” escorts, prosecutors said.
Sommers also impersonated the victims while communicating with potential adult clients online and instructed the girls to say they were “18” if anyone questioned their age. One of the victims was ultimately coerced into meeting with two adult men for commercial sex acts in exchange for money, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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Sommers admitted in his plea agreement to possessing nearly 150 visual depictions of CSAM on a cellphone in August 2023 and to distributing CSAM, according to prosecutors.
When the case was first announced in July 2024, federal prosecutors charged Sommers in an 11-count indictment that included sex trafficking of minors and using online communication platforms to entice minors into criminal sexual activity.
Prosecutors said Sommers has remained in federal custody since June 2024.
Sommers' sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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