Orlando Woman Sentenced to Prison for Role in Sex Trafficking Conspiracy
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 03, 2012 |
TAMPA—U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday today sentenced Pria M. Gunn (20, Orlando) to 46 months in federal prison for her role in a sex trafficking conspiracy. The court also ordered Gunn to forfeit multiple pieces of electronic hardware, which were used to carry out the sex trafficking offenses. Gunn pleaded guilty on August 9, 2012.
According to court documents, Gunn, while working as a prostitute for Weylin O. Rodriguez, assisted Rodriguez by enforcing Rodriguez’s rules on the other prostitutes, many of which were minors. Gunn assisted Rodriguez by posting prostitution ads of the victims on the Internet and by renting hotel rooms where prostitution activities occurred. Gunn often acted as the enforcer of the organization by inflicting physical violence on the victims to ensure that the girls who did not wish to prostitute did not run away.
On November 2, 2012, Weylin O. Rodriguez was convicted by a federal jury on multiple charges involving the sex trafficking of a minor. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 8, 2013.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacie B. Harris and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Maureen Cain.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”