Long Beach Man Who Ran Sex Trafficking Ring That Prostituted Young Women Sentenced To 20 Years In Federal Prison

LOS ANGELES – A Long Beach man was sentenced this morning to 20 years in federal prison for running a sex trafficking operation that victimized young women who he forced to work as prostitutes.

Roshaun Nakia Porter, 39, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton to a sentence of 240 months in prison, which will be followed by 10 years of supervised release.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Staton ordered Porter to pay $866,244 in restitution to 10 victims.

“Porter was the mastermind of a criminal enterprise who compelled numerous vulnerable women to surrender their bodies for considerable profit and personal sexual gratification,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. “Porter’s callous and calculated conduct robbed his victims of their freedom, dignity and the proceeds of the illicit activities he compelled them to perform. For a period of almost two years, Porter engaged in calculated profiteering by enslaving and prostituting his victims.”

Porter pleaded guilty in July 2014 to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.

Porter’s co-defendant and protégé in the operation – Marquis Monte Horn, 40, also of Long Beach – was sentenced in October by Judge Staton to 78 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. Judge Staton also ordered Horn to pay $69,719 in restitution to one victim of the sex trafficking operation.

“Porter masterminded a reprehensible sex trafficking enterprise that caused extreme trauma and lasting injury to victims,” said Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Yonekura. “Over the course of nearly two years, Porter victimized young women with flagrant lies, bogus romantic overtures and acts of violence as he forced them to give up their bodies for his profit. This conduct is intolerable and warrants the lengthy sentence issued today by the court.”

David Bowdich, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, stated: “The defendant recruited unsuspecting victims as sex slaves through fraudulent promises of wealth and a better life. He then held them hostage by imposing physical beatings and issuing death threats while he cashed in on their suffering. The FBI is committed to protecting the civil rights of trafficking victims by identifying violent sexual offenders and pimps operating in our communities, and building federal cases to ensure they go to prison."

According to court documents and admissions in court, between 2010 and April 2012, Porter masterminded a scheme in which he exploited young women, including foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, by prostituting them in Orange County. Using various deceptive means – including false online personal advertisements posted on www.craigslist.com, www.modelmayhem.com and www.seekingarrangements.com – and fraudulent promises of legitimate employment, Porter reaped substantial illicit profits by luring his victims into personal relationships with him and, thereafter, compelling them to prostitute and provide him the proceeds from their commercial sex acts. To compel the victims into compliance, Porter used physical violence, psychological abuse, threats to harm the victims’ family members and other coercive means.

Horn admitted that between December 2010 and April 2012, he conspired to recruit and entice victims into Porter’s prostitution ring. 

“The Department of Justice is steadfast in its commitment to prosecuting those who seek to profit from enslaving and exploiting others.” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will continue our unrelenting work to end the scourge of human trafficking and obtain justice on behalf of victims of these heinous crimes.” 

Two other defendants pleaded guilty in connection with this case and are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.