Sex Trafficker Who Used Drugs to Control Victims Sentenced to 30 Years

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Robert Everett Bonner, Jr., aka Ace, 34, of Fredericksburg, was sentenced today to 360 months in prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion. Bonner was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, ordered to pay $317,750 in restitution to his victims, and ordered to forfeit $400,250.

Bonner pleaded guilty on July 2, 2015.  According to court documents, Bonner was a leader of an interstate sex trafficking venture that prostituted over 55 women in at least seven states, and thus is the largest sex trafficking venture ever discovered in the Eastern District of Virginia.  Bonner and his co-conspirators recruited victims from Internet websites by calling the victims and promising a better life.  For example, he falsely promised various victims that he would permit them to keep a substantial portion of the money that they earned from prostitution.

Bonner specialized in sex trafficking women who had substance abuse issues and he used this to manipulate them.  Bonner would sometimes get victims addicted to drugs, such as heroin, and then withhold those drugs until the victims performed commercial sex acts and gave him the proceeds.  Bonner often intentionally allowed victims to experience severe symptoms of drug withdrawal as a means of punishing and controlling victims.  If the victims balked at his demands, Bonner simply cut off the drug supply, which caused most victims to become compliant.

Bonner’s actions resulted in the death of a 21 year-old victim known as “Laurabeth.”  On July 25, 2013, Bonner instructed a co-conspirator to deliver a fentanyl patch to Laurabeth.  From this patch, Laurabeth absorbed a lethal dose of Fentanyl.  She died in the hotel room from which Bonner was prostituting her.

In addition to using drug addictions to control victims, Bonner also used force and other forms of coercion to maintain control over victims.  For example, Bonner often isolated women from their families and from each other to prevent them from leaving and to render them helpless. With his size and demeanor, he also intentionally intimidated victims to ensure that they continued to prostitute and provide their prostitution proceeds to him.  On one occasion, Bonner ordered a co-conspirator to beat one victim.  He also frequently confiscated victims’ identification documents and victims’ cellular telephones (because they often contained the contact information of victims’ family members who might help them escape).  Bonner also had a habit of anally sodomizing victims forcibly as a means of inflicting pain and punishing them.

A co-conspirator, Michael Anthony Randall, also known as “Divine tha Victorious Mack,” previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Sheriff David P. Decatur of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Frank and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn A. Kimball prosecuted the case.  The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, the Henrico County Police, and the Stafford County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:14-CR-425.