Memphis Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Child Sex Trafficking Conspiracy

MEMPHIS, TN—Vincent Jones, 26, of Memphis, was sentenced to 120 months in prison today for conspiracy to engage in child sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion by United States District Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr., announced United States Attorney Edward L. Stanton, III and Special Agent in Charge of the Memphis Federal Bureau of Investigation Field Office Aaron T. Ford.

According to the indictment, in the summer of 2011, Jones and his co-defendant, Kala Bray, lured two Memphis-area juveniles to Houston, Texas, with promises of a trip to a water park. Bray and Jones plied the teens with drugs including Oxycontin and Xanax and made the juveniles engage in commercial sex acts both in Memphis and Houston. Jones pled guilty to the sex trafficking conspiracy on July 7, 2012.

U.S. District Judge Samuel H. Mays also ordered Jones to serve five years of supervised release following his release from prison. Kala Bray, Jones’ co-defendant, pled guilty to the same conspiracy charge on November 4, 2011, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison on October 11, 2012. Parole is not a possibility in the federal system.

“This office will utilize every available resource to ensure that our children are protected from those who seek to exploit them through the unspeakable act of sex trafficking,” said U.S. Attorney Stanton. “Today’s sentence should send a clear message that we have zero tolerance for any form of sex trafficking, and those who engage in such activity will be aggressively prosecuted and ultimately brought to justice.

“Sex trafficking is not just an international or a national problem, it is also a local problem, and we need to remain alert to this issue and address it vigilantly,” said Aaron T. Ford, Special Agent in Charge of the Memphis Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “This sentencing, the result of the coordinated and aggressive efforts from the FBI and our law enforcement partners, demonstrates our intent to put an end to this type of predatory operation and free the victims.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation working in conjunction with the Memphis Police Department, the Bartlett Police Department, and the Houston Police Department. FBI Special Agent Michael Saltsman was the lead investigator on the case. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Skrmetti from the Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Trial Attorney Mike Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.