U.S. District Court Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Jean Claude Roy, aka
Dredd the Don, 31, of Germantown, Maryland, to serve 240 months in
prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, the Justice
Department announced today. A jury convicted Roy on March 19, 2014, of
conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, three
counts of interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution,
and one count of witness and evidence tampering.
“The Civil Rights Division is committed to pursuing justice on behalf of
vulnerable members of our society,” said Acting Assistant Attorney
General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “This sentence
sends a clear message that the United States will not tolerate
modern-day slavery and will work tirelessly to restore the rights and
dignity of its victims.”
During the trial, victims recounted their fear of Roy, explaining
instances of physical and sexual abuse, threats, tattoo branding and
Roy’s bragging of beating a murder charge years prior in Massachusetts.
“If he could kill a man, who’s gonna care about a prostitute,” said one
victim from the witness stand. Witnesses detailed the guns in Roy’s
possession and how he prostituted women in Maryland, Virginia and North
Carolina.
“Jean Claude Roy preyed on vulnerable young women,” said U.S. Attorney
Rod J. Rosenstein for the District of Maryland. “Law enforcement
agencies will continue to work to identify and prosecute human
traffickers.”
“This case serves as another chilling example of the callous disregard
for human life demonstrated by traffickers,” said
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security
Investigation’s
(HSI) Baltimore Deputy Special Agent in Charge James P. Nagle. “Our
special agents will continue pursuing these criminals to ensure they are
behind bars where they can no longer exploit the innocent.”
Trial evidence also showed that from Jan. 1 through Jan. 10, 2013, while
Roy was in jail on related state charges, he called a family member
several times and had that person access online accounts and storage
services belonging to Roy and his co-conspirator in order to erase
evidence related to these charges.
The jury acquitted Roy of one count of sex trafficking and two counts of
attempted sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and for the
related counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
This case was investigated by the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force,
which was formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human
trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members
include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim
service providers and local community members. For more information
about the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force,
Report suspected instances of human trafficking to ICE HSI’s tip line at
866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or by completing its online tip form.
Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
This case was investigated by ICE HSI Baltimore and the Montgomery
County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristi N. O’Malley
and Trial Attorney William E. Nolan of the Civil Rights Division’s Human
Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment