New York Man Pleads Guilty to Two Counts of Transportation of a Minor to Engage in Prostitution and Simple Assault

WASHINGTON—A 37-year-old Brooklyn, New York man, Jermaine Moore, has pled guilty to two counts of Transportation of a Minor to Engage in Prostitution and Simple Assault, Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Washington Field Office, and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced today.

Moore entered his guilty plea on Friday, May 29, 2009, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. The defendant faces a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life for each count of Transportation of a Minor to Engage in Prostitution, and a maximum sentence of 180 days for Simple Assault. Pursuant to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the defendant’s estimated guideline range is 151 to 188 months in prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 11, 2009.

According to the Statement of Offense filed with the court by the government, from on or about December 2007 through on or about May 2008, C.G. worked as a prostitute for the defendant Jermaine Moore, whom she also knew by the nicknames Nut and King Bam Bam. Moore met C.G. in New York and approached her about working for him as a prostitute. C.G. initially agreed and went with Moore who was her pimp. C.G. told Moore she was 15 years old.

In December 2007, Moore brought the complainant from New York to the Washington, D.C. area where she was instructed to walk along a section of Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C., to solicit customers to perform sex acts in exchange for money. This area is known as a prostitution "track." Moore imposed on C.G. a $500.00 per night quota and collected all of the money she earned. All the money C.G. made from prostitution was turned over either to Moore or to another prostitute who worked for Moore who would then turn the money over to him. Moore kept C.G. at various hotels in Maryland during the time period that C.G. worked for him as a prostitute. Moore used taxi cabs to travel with C.G. to take her from the hotels in Maryland to work as a prostitute on Rhode Island Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C.

Moore also told C.G. how much money to charge for various sexual acts and to provide false identifying information and a date of birth that would render her an adult if she were stopped by the police. C.G. prostituted herself almost every day during the time period she was with the defendant. On multiple occasions, Moore physically abused C.G. for various reasons, including to keep her prostituting for him and to prevent her from going with another pimp. During the time period that C.G. worked for Moore, she also knew him by the false name of Sean Black.

On or about September 2007, A.S. met defendant Jermaine Moore at a party in Maryland. A.S. initially told Moore that she was 18 years old. On or about October 2007, A.S. began working as a prostitute for Moore. Approximately within 30 days of when A.S. first started working for Moore, he asked A.S. how old she was because he learned of a local news station that had covered a story regarding A.S. as missing minor person under the age of eighteen years old. A.S. then told Moore that she was 17 years old. Moore continued to have A.S. work for him as a prostitute until Moore was arrested on September 5, 2008.

From approximately October 2007 to September 5, 2008, Moore had A.S. stay with him in hotels in Maryland. On a daily basis during this time period, Moore had A.S. travel from the hotels in Maryland to a section of Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C., to solicit customers to perform sex acts in exchange for money. For almost all of the time that A.S. worked for Moore, he traveled with A.S. by taxi cab from Maryland into the District of Columbia to take her to work as a prostitute on Rhode Island Avenue. On many occasions, Moore waited in the taxi cab near Rhode Island Avenue, while A.S. prostituted herself. When A.S. first started working as a prostitute for Moore, he imposed on A.S. a nightly quota of $200. This later changed to a nightly quota of $500. On occasions when A.S. failed to meet her nightly quota, Moore would physically abused A.S. by punching her.

Moore required A.S. to give him all of the money she earned from working for him as a prostitute, although at various times Moore did give A.S. small amounts of money. Moore told A.S. that if she was ever stopped by a police officer, for A.S. to tell the police officer that she was eighteen years old and to use a false name. During the time period that A.S. worked as a prostitute for Moore, she knew him by the nicknames Nut and KB, which stands for King Bam Bam, and by the false names of Sean Black and Terry White. A.S. also called the defendant “daddy” because of his role as her pimp.

Lastly, E.G. met Jermaine Moore on or about April or May 2008, and began working for him as a prostitute through on or about July 2008, when she was 16 years old. E.G. knew Moore by the nicknames Nut and King Bam Bam. During the time period that E.G. worked for Moore, on one occasion while E.G. and Moore were in the District of Columbia on Rhode Island Avenue, NE, Moore physically assaulted E.G. in the back of a taxi cab by punching her multiple times on various parts of her face.

In announcing the guilty plea, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips noted that the case was the result of the collaborate efforts of the Child Exploitation Task Force. Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, Jr., and MPD Chief Lanier commended the outstanding investigative work of the assigned FBI Special Agent and Intelligence Analyst and MPD Detective Jonathan Andrews. They also praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karla-Dee Clark and Bridgette Crafton who investigated and prosecuted the case. Finally, commendation was extended to legal assistants Latoya Davenport and Latoya Wade, and paralegals Teesha Tobias and Kim Hall who assisted with the case.