Three Broward Men Plead Guilty to Sex Trafficking Conspiracy

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Al Lamberti, Sheriff, Broward Sheriff’s Office, announced that defendants Johnny Saintil, 28, Michael Defrand, 25, and Stanley Wilson, 26, of Broward, pled guilty on August 23, 2010, to conspiring to sex traffic minors and sex trafficking by force, threats of force, and coercion, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1594(c). Defrand also pled guilty to a substantive count of sex trafficking of a minor, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1591(a).

Sentencing for all three men has been scheduled for November 19, 2010, before U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch. Each of the defendants faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Saintil, Defrand, and Wilson were members of an organization that called itself “Please Talk Paper.” From September 2009 through March 16, 2010, the organization was used to prostitute adult and minor females out of national and international hotel chains in Broward County. The organization would advertise its prostitution services on the Internet. The defendants used the organization to do Internet advertising, facilitate transportation, and avoid law enforcement detection. In this way, the defendants shared resources, including hotel rooms, computers, condoms, and the prostitutes working for the organization.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s Minor Vice Task Force. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Strider Dickson.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.