Press Release
Summerville Man Convicted for Sex Trafficking Throughout the Southeast
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Daewon Warren, age 27, of Summerville, was convicted in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, for Sex Trafficking of a Minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591 and seven other charges related to sex trafficking. U.S. Attorney Drake stated that Warren faces a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and maximum of life imprisonment. United States District Judge David C. Norton, of Charleston, presided over the trial and will impose sentence at a later date. Warren remains in custody.
Evidence presented at trial proved that Warren and his co-defendant, Monique Lewis, participated in a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina. The defendants coerced several young women, including one minor, into working as prostitutes. The evidence showed that Warren routinely assaulted the victims and withheld food from them to coerce them into engaging in commercial sex acts. Evidence also showed the defendants used the website Backpage.com to advertise sexual services throughout the Southeast. Lewis pled guilty prior to the trial of Warren.
“The pimps who run girls and young women for their own profit are preying on some of our most vulnerable. The City of North Charleston’s Human Trafficking Unit and ICE - Homeland Security Investigations did some great work investigating this case. It is the second conviction of human traffickers working out of North Charleston by trial in federal court in the last 8 months. Between the two cases, 12 human traffickers have been successfully prosecuted through the partnership of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and these agencies,” added U.S. Attorney Drake.
The case was investigated by agents from the North Charleston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit and ICE - Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorneys Matt Austin and Nathan Williams of the Charleston office prosecuted the case.
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Contact
Lance Crick (864) 282-2105
Updated October 23, 2017
Topic
Human Trafficking
Component