Father and Son Sentenced on Sex Trafficking Charges

DETROIT – Two Detroit men have been sentenced after having pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking using force and coercion, as well as firearm and controlled substance offenses, announced United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison.

Ison was joined in the announcement by Acting Special Agent in Charge Josh P. Hauxhurst, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division.

Eligah Goodmon, 68, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Laurie Michelson to 111 months in federal prison.  Erskin Bernard Perryman, 49, was sentenced in March 2021 to 180 months in federal prison.  The sentencings were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Both Goodmon and Perryman have been in custody since their arrest in February 2020.

According to court records, Eligah Goodmon and his son, Erskin Perryman, ran a drug and prostitution house on Hazelwood in Detroit, Michigan. Goodmon lived in the house on Hazelwood, while Perryman came to the house every day to provide crack cocaine and heroin to the drug-addicted women who lived there. The women in the home purchased drugs from Perryman by performing commercial sex dates. If the women in the home did not comply with Perryman’s demands, he was violent with them. Goodmon collected money from commercial sex dates, provided the women with drugs, and monitored their drug usage.

“These defendants treated their victims like a commodity,” stated U.S. Attorney Ison.  “They targeted vulnerable women and exploited them for their own profit and fueled their drug addictions by providing them with drugs.  We hope that today’s sentence offers these victims a sense of justice and closure and sends the message that we will not tolerate sex trafficking in our communities. “

“These defendants exploited their victims in the worst way. By plying their victims with drugs, forcing them to engage in commercial sex, and subjecting them to violence if they refused, the defendants took away the freedom and dignity to which these women are entitled,” said Josh P. Hauxhurst, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. “The FBI remains committed to working on behalf of victims across the state to hold traffickers responsible for their crimes."

The case was investigated by special agents of the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sara D. Woodward and Lisandra Fernandez-Silber.