An Arizona man entered a guilty plea on Monday for charges that stemmed from his attempt to take a minor from Turlock and turn her into a prostitute.

Robert Frenchie McGriff, 44, of Mesa, Arizona, pleaded guilty to attempted transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, from March 2019 through June 2019, McGriff began communicating with an individual he believed to be a minor female on Instagram. McGriff told the individual that he was a pimp and actively recruited her to work for him in Arizona as a prostitute. In June 2019, McGriff traveled by bus from Phoenix to Turlock with the intent of retrieving the minor female in Turlock and transporting her to work for him as a prostitute. McGriff was thereafter arrested by law enforcement.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Prosecutions Unit and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Whitnee Goins and Shea Kenny are prosecuting the case.

McGriff is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller on Sept. 9. McGriff faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison, and a $250,000 fine.