Plea deal reached in 2010 sex case

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A 2010 child sex abuse case is just about closed. Warren James Lewis, III pled guilty Thursday to charges he transported minors across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Lewis admitted he transported the two girls, eight and seven years old, and a nine-year-old boy from Mobile to a trailer in Gulfport on Christmas Day in 2010. Lewis said his intent was to engage in criminal sexual activity with the children.

According to the plea agreement, Lewis had been raping the two girls for at least two and a half years. He also forced the boy to engage in sex acts with one of the girls.  
At his plea hearing, Lewis admitted he raped the two girls on New Year's Eve.

Lewis will be sentenced in January. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of ten years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He also faces up to $250,000 in fines, and five years to lifetime supervised release.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.