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Press Release

Hammond Man Convicted After 6-Day Jury Trial

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Indiana
For Sex Trafficking, Sexual Exploitation of Minors and Other Crimes

HAMMOND – Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, Clifford D. Johnson, announced that Ronnie C. Cosby, age 42, of Hammond, Indiana was convicted of 5 out of 7 federal criminal charges after a 6-day jury trial before District Court Judge Philip P. Simon.

 

The jury convicted Cosby on one count of sex trafficking of a minor, two counts of production of child pornography and two counts of transporting a minor for prostitution.

 

According to documents in the case, between December 2014 and February 2015, Cosby caused two minor females to engage in prostitution at his apartment in Hammond, Indiana, and other nearby locations. Cosby met one victim, then 14 years old, through an online dating website. Cosby took sexually explicit images of the victim at his apartment, which he then transmitted to prostitution customers and posted online. Cosby transported a second minor victim, then 15 years old, across state lines to a hotel in Lansing, Illinois, where he caused her to engage in prostitution. Cosby took sexually explicit images of the second victim and posted the images on a website advertising prostitution.

 

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with the assistance of the Hammond Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and members of the Northwest Indiana Human Trafficking Working Group. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Abizer Zanzi and Jill Koster.

 

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Updated September 14, 2017

Topics
Human Trafficking
Project Safe Childhood