Sex offender sentenced to 38 years

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - United States Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama said Warren James Lewis, III was sentenced to 38 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he transported minors across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Officials said October 2012, Lewis admitted that he transported two girls, 8 and 7 years old, and a 9-year-old boy from Mobile to a trailer in Gulfport, Mississippi on Christmas Day, 2010 with the intent 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 and forcing the boy to engage in sex acts with one of the girls. Investigators said Lewis admitted that he raped the two girls on New Year’s Eve.

Officials said following his release from prison, Lewis will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for the rest of his life, and will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Brown praised the sentence imposed by United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade.

“Anyone who derives pleasure from inflicting unimaginable suffering on innocent and vulnerable children in our community will be relentlessly pursued and brought to justice,” Brown said. “The sentence reflects the severe harm visited upon these young victims, and we remain steadfast in our dedication to bringing to justice anyone who perpetrates these despicable crimes.”

Authorities said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office the Mobile County Department of Human Resources, the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office and the Gulfport Police Department conducted the investigation and presented the case for prosecution to the United States Attorney’s Office.

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/