LAWFUEL – Law News Network – R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today the June 29, 2006 Indictment by a Miami grand jury of a defendants, Kareem Jackson, a/k/a “Jamar Fields,” a/k/a “Face,” and Eriverto M. Cotto, a/k/a “Fat Boy,” with one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1591(a), and one count of trafficking with respect to peonage, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1581(a) and 1594(a).
If convicted on the sex trafficking count, the defendants face a maximum statutory term of life in prison. If convicted on the trafficking with respect to peonage count, the defendants face a maximum statutory term of twenty (20) years’ in prison.
According to a criminal compliant filed in this case, on June 8, 2006, officers with the Miami Police Department, Crime Suppression Team, conducted an escort prostitution operation at a hotel in Coconut Grove. As part of the investigation, the officers contacted the Erotic Touch Escort Service and requested two female escorts. A short time later, two female escorts arrived at the hotel and both agreed to engage in sexual acts with the undercover officers in exchange for money. Both women were arrested. Federal authorities were contacted when local detectives discovered that one of the escorts was 17 years old.
An investigation conducted by the Innocence Lost Task Force, which includes members of the Miami Police Department, Miami-Dade Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, revealed that the 17 year old woman had been physically assaulted by both defendants and forced to work as a prostitute at the escort service. According to the complaint, Jackson informed the woman that he would never allow her to leave him.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Miami Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marcus Christian.
A copy of all press releases may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls . Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on .
