Baltimore, Maryland - Eric Evans, age 35, of Baltimore pleaded guilty today to sex trafficking involving a 14 year old girl.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
On May 29, 2014, co-defendant Kenneth Ronald Robinson, age 52, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to the same charge. Co-defendants Cheralyn Crawford, a/k/a “Rachel," age 25, of Baltimore; Jeffrey Clark, age 43, of Nottingham, Maryland; and Craig Judy, age 29, of Baltimore; pleaded guilty on May 22, 21 and 19, 2014, respectively, to using the Internet to promote a minor to engage in prostitution.
According to the guilty pleas, on the evening of June 17, 2013, Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force members recovered a 14 year old girl from a motel on Joppa Road in Baltimore. The victim was located after law enforcement viewed a picture of her on a known Internet web site that advertises for prostitution, and called the number on the advertisement. Undercover officers made a “date" for prostitution with victim, which led them to her location.
Subsequent interviews of the victim revealed that at Robinson’s direction, the victim had been staying with Crawford and Judy and had been performing commercial sex acts from that hotel for approximately four days. At Robinson’s request, Crawford took sexually explicit pictures of the victim using Clark’s cell phone. Crawford and Judy posted those photos in ads on a website. Judy used the prostitution earnings of both the minor victim and Crawford to pay for the ads. A subsequent search of Clark’s cell phone revealed that it contained photos of both the victim and Crawford used on the website’s sex ads. At Robinson’s direction, Clark transported the victim to motels, stores and restaurants in the Towson, Maryland area. One of the motel rooms used by the victim, Crawford, and Judy was registered to Clark.
The victim also advised that Robinson introduced her to Evans so that she could engage in prostitution at Evans’ direction. The victim told law enforcement that Evans posted sex ads for the victim on a website using photos he had taken of the victim. The victim also stated that Evans kept the money she earned from prostitution. At least one of the victim’s sex ads was posted on June 7, 2013 from an address used by a motel in Towson where records show that Evans had paid for a room from June 3 to 8, 2013.
Evans and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts his plea, he will be sentenced to between 120 and 140 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for Evans on September 9, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.
Robinson faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison at his sentencing on Sept. 11, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. Crawford, Clark, and Judy each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Judge Bennett scheduled sentencing for Crawford and Clark on Aug. 14, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively; and for Judy on Aug. 21, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. Robinson, Clark and Judy remain detained. Crawford is released under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services.
The case was investigated by the FBI-led Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force (MCETF), created in 2010 to combat child prostitution, with members from10 state and federal law enforcement agencies. The Task Force coordinates with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Maryland State Police Child Recovery Unit to identify missing children being advertised online for prostitution.
MCETF partners with the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members. For more information about the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/priorities_human.html.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI, Baltimore County Police Department, Maryland State Police and the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Ayn B. Ducao, P. Michael Cunningham and Rachel M. Yasser, who are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
