Monroe County Man Guilty Of Sex Trafficking And Heroin Trafficking

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Jamiell Sims, age 29, of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania pleaded guilty on June 18, 2018, before U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, to participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy that involved using threats and coercion to force women to engage in prostitution in the Monroe County area between 2011 and 2014.  Sims also pleaded guilty to distributing heroin on four occasions in Monroe County during September-October 2016.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Sims admitted to being a member of the Black P-Stones, a street gang that engaged in sex trafficking and drug trafficking in the Stroudsburg area. Sims admitted that he and other members of the P-Stones sex trafficked at least four women. Those women were advertised on websites and provided with hotel and motel rooms to engage in commercial sex acts with customers.

Those women were threatened, physically assaulted, and provided drugs by members of the gang to persuade them to engage or continue to engage in prostitution. Virtually all of the money earned by the prostitutes was turned over to the gang leaders, and the prostitutes were compensated with illegal drugs, including heroin and Percocet. Sims admitted to providing security for prostitution activities, collecting money from the prostitutes, and providing drugs to the prostitutes. 

Sims also admitted distributing heroin on four occasions between September 19, 2016 and October 6, 2016.

Judge Mannion ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed. Sentencing for Sims will be scheduled at a later date.

Sims was indicted along with two other people by a federal grand jury in January 2018, as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Maine State Police, the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, and local police in Monroe County. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.    

The maximum penalty under federal law for these offenses is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

# # #