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Press Release

Luzerne County Woman Pleads Guilty To Transporting A Person In Interstate Commerce To Engage In Prostitution

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania

     The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that an Edwardsville woman pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani to aiding and abetting another person in transporting a female from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to engage in prostitution.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the defendant, Kyoni Humphrey a/k/a “Kyoni Nieves,” age 24, admitted that she helped a co-defendant commit the crime by renting and driving a vehicle used to transport the female to motels in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to engage in prostitution, renting motel rooms, and posting “escort” advertisements and photographs on the backpage.com website during May and June of 2013.

     Humphrey was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2014, as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office.

     The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.

     Humphrey faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Mariani ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed and scheduled sentencing for the week of August 11, 2014.

     This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

Updated April 9, 2015