December 9, 2015

Union County, New Jersey Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Recruiting a Girl to Work as a Prostitute

NEWARK, NJ—A Plainfield, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 144 months in prison for arranging sexual encounters involving a 15-year-old girl in return for payment, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Ronald Garris Jr., 31, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares to an information charging him with one count of sex trafficking of a minor. Judge Linares imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Garris admitted that on June 14, 2013, he met a 15-year-old girl at a Best Western Hotel in South Plainfield, New Jersey, and recruited her to work as a prostitute. On June 18, 2013, Garris posted an advertisement on backpage.com that contained explicit photographs of the girl, including her telephone number and the town in which she was located. Garris admitted arranging “dates” in which the girl was expected to perform sexual acts in exchange for payment. Garris also admitted that on June 21, 2013, the girl went to the Howard Johnson Express Inn in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for sexual encounters that he arranged.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Linares sentenced Garris to five years of supervised release. Garris must register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel; the New Brunswick Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith Williams and Danielle Corcione of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Assistant Federal Public Defender Linda Foster Esq., Newark