Monroe man pleads guilty to sex trafficking
A Monroe County man admitted in federal court to sex trafficking charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said Jamiell Sims, 29, of East Stroudsburg, pleaded guilty on Monday before U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, to participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy that involved using threats and coercion to force women to engage in prostitution in the Monroe County area between 2011 and 2014.
Sims also pleaded guilty to distributing heroin on four occasions in Monroe County.
According to U.S. Attorney David J. Freed, Sims admitted to being a member of the Black P-Stones, a street gang that engaged in sex trafficking and drug trafficking in the Stroudsburg area.
Sims admitted that he and other members of the P-Stones sex trafficked at least four women.
Those women were advertised on websites and provided with hotel and motel rooms to engage in commercial sex acts with customers.
Those women were threatened, physically assaulted, and provided drugs by members of the gang to persuade them to engage or continue to engage in prostitution. Virtually all of the money earned by the prostitutes was turned over to the gang leaders, and the prostitutes were compensated with illegal drugs, including heroin and Percocet.
Sims admitted to providing security for prostitution activities, collecting money from the prostitutes and providing drugs to the prostitutes.
Sims also admitted distributing heroin on four occasions between Sept. 19, 2016 and Oct. 6, 2016.
Judge Mannion ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed. Sentencing for Sims will be scheduled at a later date.
Sims was indicted along with two other people by a federal grand jury in January 2018, as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Maine State Police, the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office and local police in Monroe County.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.
