Manhattan Man Found Guilty in Federal Court of Sex Trafficking Three Minors and Possessing Child Pornography

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Royce Corley, of New York, New York, was found guilty today in Manhattan federal court of sex trafficking of minors and possessing child pornography. Corley was convicted after a four-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated, “Sexually exploiting underage runaways by selling them for prostitution is a heinous and unfortunately all too common crime. Today’s guilty verdict against Royce Corley is a victory for the vulnerable girls he exploited and for the larger fight to put an end to the sex trafficking of children.”

According to the superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, other court filings, and the evidence presented at trial:

Between at least June 2011 and January 2012, using the alias “Ron Iron,” the defendant ran a prostitution ring in Manhattan that sold underage girls for sex. Corley’s victims included at least three 16-year-old runaway girls who had no place to stay when they met Corley (the “minor victims”). He prostituted each of his minor victims using the same methods. Corley photographed them in sexually explicit poses, created advertisements for prostitution on Backpage.com, provided the minor victims with cell phones to communicate with potential clients, and furnished them with apartments all over Manhattan in which they were to meet clients for paid sex. Corley posted the advertisements to Backpage.com from his home and work computers.

For six months in the fall of 2011, Corley made thousands of dollars a week from trafficking his minor victims for sex on Backpage.com, all while Corley knew that they were each 16 years old.

On January 25, 2011, Corley was arrested by members of the New York City Police Department following an undercover sting which rescued one of the minor victims. At the time of his arrest, Corley had in his pocket a thumb drive, which contained child pornography of one of his minor victims.

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Corley, 29, of Manhattan, New York, was found guilty of three counts of sex trafficking of minors and one count of possessing child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison. Corley is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Patterson on February 20, 2014.

Mr. Bharara praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, and the New York County District Attorney’s Office for their work in this case.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tatiana R. Martins and Amanda Kramer are in charge of the prosecution.

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