Philadelphia Man Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison For Sex Trafficking 15-Year-Old Girl

TRENTON, N.J. – A Philadelphia man was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for sex trafficking a 15-year-old girl, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Samuel Verrier, 38, aka “Dre,” previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp to an information charging him with one count of procuring the interstate travel of a person to engage in illicit sexual conduct for the purpose of financial gain. Judge Shipp imposed the sentence in Trenton federal court.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in Court:

For approximately two weeks in August 2011, Verrier engaged a 15-year-old girl in prostitution, acting as her pimp. He brought her to various bars and strip clubs, supplied her with drugs and alcohol, and instructed her to have sex with club patrons in exchange for money. On Sept. 1, 2011, Verrier and his co-defendant, Karl Venord, drove the girl from Philadelphia to Bordentown, New Jersey, so that they could use her in an extortion scheme. They directed her to approach a man in a parking lot, seduce him, take pictures of the sexual encounter, and provide those pictures to Verrier and Venord, who would use the pictures to blackmail the man. The scheme went awry when the man declined the girl’s advances and a witness called the police.

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Shipp sentenced Verrier to a lifetime term of supervised release, the provisions of which restrict his contact with minors, and ordered him to pay $60,000 in restitution to the victim, as well as a $5,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. The N.J. Division of Criminal Justice also provided assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah M. Wolfe, Molly S. Lorber, and R. Joseph Gribko of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

Defense counsel: Paul Casteleiro Esq., West Trenton, New Jersey