Minor Victims Exploited for Business Intercourse, Pressured to Flip Over All Proceeds
WASHINGTON – Willis Lewis, 49, of Oxon Hill, Maryland, and Brittany Jones, 33, of Suitland, Maryland, had been sentenced at present for his or her roles in a intercourse trafficking operation involving teenage victims. Lewis was sentenced to life in jail; Jones was sentenced to 14 years in jail. The end result was introduced by United States Lawyer Matthew M. Graves, Assistant Lawyer Common Kristen Clarke of the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division, FBI Particular Agent in Cost Wayne A. Jacobs, of the Washington Area Workplace Felony and Cyber Division, and Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Division (MPD).
Lewis was discovered responsible by a jury within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Columbia, in Might of final yr, of 12 counts together with 4 counts of intercourse trafficking of kids by drive, fraud, and coercion, one depend of conspiracy to commit intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud, or coercion, three counts of coercion or enticement of a minor, two counts of transporting for prostitution, one depend of interstate journey and transportation in help of racketeering, and a firearms offense; Jones was convicted of 4 counts together with intercourse trafficking, conspiracy, and transportation in help of racketeering. The defendants had been charged in reference to their trafficking of a 15-year-old lady and a 17-year-old lady between April and Might of 2019. Lewis was sentenced to life on ten counts and to fifteen years on the 2 remaining counts. His two sentences will run concurrently.
Along with the jail time period, U.S. District Courtroom Choose Royce C. Lamberth ordered 10 years of supervised launch for every defendant and ordered every to pay $17,000 in restitution to the victims.
“This prolonged sentence will get a harmful predator off the streets for a really very long time.” stated U.S. Lawyer Graves. “His prolonged confinement will hold different youngsters protected and function a warning to those that are contemplating exploiting our youth. These harming our younger ladies and ladies have to know that the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia, together with the FBI and our different regulation enforcement companions, will monitor you down and maintain you accountable for the ache and struggling you trigger.”
“This defendant focused kids, callously exploiting their vulnerability,” stated Assistant Lawyer Common Clarke. “The Division of Justice stays dedicated to holding traffickers accountable for the pernicious and inhumane exploitation of younger kids regardless of the hurt these crimes inflict. We’ll use each device at our disposal to acquire justice and restitution for the victims of human trafficking. We commend the brave younger victims right here who stood as much as their traffickers.”
“As we speak’s sentences reveal that the FBI and our companions will aggressively examine all members of intercourse trafficking networks, from the chief of the operation to these concerned within the recruitment, transportation, and harboring of victims,” stated Particular Agent in Cost Jacobs. “Let this be a message to anybody who would have interaction in trafficking minors: The FBI will make sure that these engaged in these horrid crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the regulation.”
Based on the federal government’s proof, Jones, working with two co-conspirators who since pleaded responsible, introduced the 2 victims to Lewis for the needs of trafficking them. After they had been in Lewis’s custody, Lewis arrange “dates” for the 2 ladies every day for nearly two weeks and Lewis pocketed the cash that the 2 ladies produced from these dates. Lewis used a loyalty contract, a firearm, and acts of violence to coerce the victims into performing industrial intercourse for his revenue. Regulation enforcement grew to become concerned on this investigation after the 2 victims ran away from a residential facility in Virginia and the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Kids issued a lacking particular person’s report.
At trial, the co-conspirators testified towards Lewis and Jones and had been corroborated by unbiased proof, together with materials from the digital gadgets and cellphone location information.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Area Workplace’s Little one Exploitation and Human Trafficking Process Pressure. The duty drive consists of FBI brokers, together with different federal brokers and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, together with the Metropolitan Police Division. The duty drive is charged with investigating and bringing federal fees towards people engaged within the exploitation of kids and people engaged in human trafficking.
This case was introduced as a part of the Division of Justice’s Challenge Secure Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Lawyer Common created Challenge Secure Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to guard kids from on-line exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplaces, Challenge Secure Childhood marshals federal, state, and native assets to higher find, apprehend, and prosecute people who exploit kids by way of the Web, in addition to determine and rescue victims. For extra details about Challenge Secure Childhood, please go to www.projectsafechildhoodgov
In saying the sentences, U.S. Lawyer Graves, Particular Agent in Cost Jacobs, and Chief Contee counseled the work of the MPD Detectives and Particular Brokers of the FBI Little one Exploitation Process Pressure, in addition to the MPD’s Human Trafficking Unit. Additionally they acknowledged the efforts of those that dealt with the case for the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace and Justice Division, together with Paralegal Specialists Genevieve De Guzman, Karla Nunez, and Irina Tchernoskoutova, and Sufferer/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant.
Lastly, they counseled the work of Assistant U.S. Lawyer Janani Iyengar and Trial Lawyer Elizabeth Hutson of the Justice Division Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.