A convicted sex criminal from Canyon Country was charged as part of a federal grand jury indictment with 11 counts that allege he once again committed sex crimes involving children, specifically trying to lure two minors into sex work.
Kai Whitney Sommers, 36, of Ventura, has been in federal custody since June 26, and is scheduled for arraignment Monday in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
The complaint alleges that months after his release from state prison after being convicted of child sex offenses, he produced child sexual abuse material and used online chat programs to entice two minors into prostitution.
Specifically, the complaint alleges: two counts of sex trafficking of minors; two counts of use of a facility of interstate commerce to entice a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity; one count of production of child pornography; three counts of distribution of child pornography; one count of possession of child pornography; and two counts of commission of a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender.
Filed in federal court in Downtown Los Angeles, the complaint notes Sommers’ 2021 conviction in L.A. County Superior Court for statutory rape and engaging in lewd or lascivious acts with a minor after he enticed a minor in an online chat room to make money as a sex worker. Sommers then lured the victim to meet with him and sexually assaulted the victim.
Months after his release from state prison for those crimes, law enforcement conducted a search inside Sommers’ residence in August 2023 and allegedly found him to be in possession of CSAM, according to federal officials.
Following the search, officers allegedly found Sommers had chatted online with two minors, intending to persuade them to make money as sex workers, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
“One of the victims allegedly produced CSAM for Sommers, who used both their images online to advertise them as 18-year-old sex workers. Sommers allegedly impersonated the victims while he communicated with potential adult clients and told the victims that if the clients asked for their age, they had to say ‘18,’” according to the Department of Justice release issued Tuesday.
Sommers allegedly coerced one victim to meet twice with adult men and have sex with them for approximately $160, the release states.
If convicted, Sommers would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
He has not yet answered to the federal charges.
Sommers is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Downtown Los Angeles.