Washington, D.C. – Levar Simms, a 30-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 96 months of incarceration today by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon following the defendant’s conviction by a federal jury, on January 28, 2008, of interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of prostitution, announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy L. Lanier, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

In sentencing Simms to 96 months of incarceration, Judge Leon stated that Simms had preyed on a minor’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses, and that he had made no showing of remorse. The Court departed upwards from the applicable sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, stating that this was “not a case where a guideline sentence would be adequate to deter others who may be similarly inclined.” Upon release from prison, Simms will be required to serve 10 years of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Simms first encountered the victim, a 16-year-old girl, in the late evening on July 6, 2006, when he pulled up alongside her in his Ford Thunderbird outside of a shelter for juveniles in Greensboro, North Carolina. The teenager had traveled to North Carolina from her home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to visit with family friends. Shortly after she arrived, she became stranded and checked into the Act Together Youth Facility.

Simms took the teenager to a house in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he encouraged her to prostitute for him. She agreed to do so, and was introduced to several other adult women who also prostituted themselves for Simms.

After several days, Simms told the teenager that he wanted her to come with him to Washington, D.C., because she would be able to make more money there. Simms drove the teenager, together with several other adult women, to Washington, D.C., and installed them in his apartment in the 4500 block of Jay Street, NE. From there, the defendant arranged for the prostitutes’ photos to be placed on craigslist in the “erotic services” section.
Evidence at trial also established that – on at least one occasion – Simms arranged for the teenager to “walk the track” on Rhode Island Avenue in an area known for prostitution. On August 14, 2006, members of the Metropolitan Police Department stopped the teenager because she appeared to be underage. Once they confirmed that she was, in fact, a minor, officers asked her to call someone to pick her up. She placed a phone call to a number in her phone stored under “Daddy.” Moments later, Simms arrived in the same Ford Thunderbird he had used to transport the teenager to Washington, D.C.

In the backseat of his car, officers found the computer used to post the teenaged victim’s and the other (adult) prostitutes’ advertisements to craigslist.

The Court stated that the victim was put in a position through the defendant’s assistance and support to prostitute herself and to be put on craigslist. “You knew better, and others should know better,” Judge Leon told the defendant at sentencing.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood and the Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor, MPD Chief Lanier, and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini commended the outstanding investigative work of D.C. Metropolitan Police Detectives Jonathan Andrews, Timothy Palchak, Miguel Miranda, Mark Gilkey; Sergeant Morani Hines; and Officers Gary Walker, James O’Gorman, Marquette Mathis, Michael Daee, and John Light. In addition, they commended Special Agents William Kim, William McDermott, Andrew Smallman, and Ndubisi Nwachuku; and U.S. Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Advocates Tracey Hawkins and Dawn Tolson-Hightower, Litigation Technology Specialist Oliver John-Baptiste, Intern Kathryn Rakoczy, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bruce Hegyi, who indicted the case, and Julieanne Himelstein and Jocelyn Ballantine, who tried the case.