Bradenton Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Engage in Sex Trafficking of Minors

TAMPA—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that Neang Prom, a/k/a Pocahontas (30, Bradenton), pled guilty yesterday to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. Prom faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

According to the plea agreement, Prom and her boyfriend, Eric Bell, recruited minors to engage in prostitution by offering the minors a place to live. Once the minors were living with Prom and Bell, they took sexually explicit photos of the minor victims and placed those photos on the Internet to solicit clients for prostitution services. The minor victims were required to give the proceeds of their prostitution services to Prom and Bell. Prom and Bell then used the profits of the prostitution for their own benefits. Law enforcement officers identified four minors that performed prostitution services for Prom and Bell. All of the victims were between the ages of 15 and 17 years old.

Eric Bell previously pled guilty for his role in this case. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 20, 2012.

This case was investigated by the Clearwater Area Human Trafficking Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacie B. Harris.

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.”