PHILADELPHIA – A Delaware man convicted in federal courtroom in 2019 for the sexual trafficking of minors was sentenced Friday to 21 years in jail.
Anthony Jones, 41, of Wilmington, was additionally ordered to serve 10 years of supervised launch and pay $15,160 in restitution to his victims underneath the sentence imposed by U.S. District Court docket Decide Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, of the Japanese District of Pennsylvania.
Anthony Jones and two co-conspirators – his brother, Kristian Jones, and Dkyle Jamal Bridges – had been discovered responsible of intercourse trafficking minors, intercourse trafficking by pressure, fraud and coercion, and conspiracy. Bridges and Kristian Jones had been sentenced final yr to jail phrases of 35 years and 20 years, respectively.
“Anthony Jones and his co-defendants sexually exploited ladies and ladies for revenue, throughout a number of years and state strains,” mentioned Jacqueline Maguire, Particular Agent in Cost of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, in a launch. “All have now been delivered to justice and obtained prolonged jail sentences, which we hope will convey their victims some consolation.”
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Priya DeSouza and Division of Justice trial legal professional Jessica City laid out the case over the course of a three-week trial displaying Bridges led a prostitution enterprise between 2012 and 2017 that spanned southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, in response to a previous launch from the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of Pennsylvania.
“Bridges incessantly used violence and threats to trigger the feminine victims to interact within the industrial intercourse acts,” in response to the discharge. “Kristian and Anthony Jones, amongst others, assisted Bridges in varied capacities in working the enterprise, together with by recruiting and transporting victims, accumulating cash, and paying for lodge rooms.”
The case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia with help from the Tinicum Township Police Division, the Newark Police Division, Delaware State Police and Philadelphia Police Division.
The enterprise was first found in November 2016, when a Tinicum police officer stopped a automobile that not too long ago left a lodge identified to be frequented by these participating in prostitution.
The motive force admitted to coming from a gathering with a prostitute and that he had organized the “date” by means of the web site Backpage.com.
When officers went to the room the person visited, they found Kristian Jones, two minor ladies, condoms, and cell telephones containing communications with Bridges in regards to the prostitution enterprise. The room had been rented by Anthony Jones.
That very same month in Newark, an officer posing as a shopper responded to a Backpage.com advert providing industrial intercourse. When regulation enforcement arrived on the lodge for the “date,” they discovered a girl and a woman.
Philadelphia police carried out an analogous undercover operation in July 2017. Upon arriving, officers discovered two grownup ladies in a lodge room and Bridges ready in his automobile.
The discharge said that Bridges had promised the victims fee, however they had been as a substitute subjected to his violent acts or feared him based mostly on observing his violence in opposition to others as soon as they had been pulled into his trafficking circle.
“Bridges used violent and coercive ways to pressure the victims to stay in his intercourse trafficking operation – together with pouring water on them to maintain them awake, choking them, and assaulting them,” in response to a launch. “Defendant Anthony Jones, and his co-defendant and brother Kristian Jones, helped Bridges run the ring by dealing with logistics together with offering safety, accumulating cash, and reserving lodge rooms.”
“Anthony Jones and his coconspirators used the our bodies of kids for their very own monetary profit,” mentioned U.S. Lawyer Jennifer Arbittier Williams. “This sentence of 21 years and the decades-long sentences handed right down to his codefendants replicate the seriousness with which the federal justice system will deal with defendants convicted of intercourse trafficking offenses. We’ll proceed to work collectively to analyze and prosecute these damaging crimes dedicated in opposition to a number of the most susceptible members of our group.”
Maguire urged anybody with info on different sex-trafficking operations to contact the FBI at 215-418-4000 or suggestions.fbi.gov. Tipsters could report anonymously.
