Mount Vernon Man Found Guilty Of Sex Trafficking A Minor

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) Christopher G. Raia announced today that a jury returned a guilty verdict on October 27, 2025, against RAI THOMAS for sex trafficking of a minor and use of interstate facilities to promote sex trafficking and prostitution.  U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Román presided over the trial. 

“Crimes relating to sexual abuse of minors are among the most heinous crimes in our society,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “Rai Thomas’s actions were particularly egregious because he targeted a teen in crisis and preyed on her when she was at her most vulnerable.  This Office is dedicated to protecting the children of New York. This conviction should serve as a lesson: if you target a child—any child—the prosecutors of this Office and our law enforcement partners will bring you to justice.” 

FBI Assistant Director Christopher G. Raia said: “Rai Thomas organized an elaborate sex trafficking scheme across the city to repeatedly exploit a minor victim simply to enrich himself. Thomas targeted an especially vulnerable minor, enticing her into commercial sex work with utter disregard for her wellbeing. The FBI will never tolerate any individual who advertises and uses children as sexual objects to fill their own piggy banks.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment and the evidence at trial:

Between January and February 2022, THOMAS trafficked Minor Victim-1 to engage in commercial sexual activity across multiple hotels within the Bronx and Brooklyn, New York.  Minor Victim-1 had been living in a children’s group home at the time that THOMAS trafficked her.  THOMAS facilitated and benefited from the scheme in numerous ways, including by enticing Minor Victim-1 to engage in commercial sex; coordinating the transportation of Minor Victim-1 to hotels; reserving the hotel rooms in which she engaged in commercial sex; facilitating the advertisement of Minor Victim-1 on the internet to customers for commercial sex; and profiting from the sex trafficking scheme.

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RAI THOMAS, 31 of Mount Vernon, New York, was convicted of (1) sex trafficking of a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison, and (2) use of interstate facilities to promote unlawful activity, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

The sentencing of THOMAS is scheduled for February 13, 2026, before Judge Román. 

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department, and the New York City Police Department. 

The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Qais Ghafary, Kaiya Arroyo, and Jorja Knauer represented the Government at trial, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Gabriela Salerno, Samantha Olsen, and Shannon Becker.

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