Baltimore, Maryland - Jason David Young, a/k/a Bird, J Bird, and Chris, age 33, of New Carrollton, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to illegal possession of firearms and to enticing and coercing women to travel across state lines to engage in prostitution.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Chief Gary Gardner of the Howard County Police Department; Chief Hank Stawinski of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino; and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks.
According to his plea agreement, from September 2013 through October 2015, Young was a pimp and used physical, mental and emotional abuse and threats in order to cause women to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit. Young admitted that he transported the women across state lines to engage in prostitution. In January 2015, Young drove two women to Tennessee to engage in commercial sex acts. Young rented hotel rooms and several online advertisements were posted to recruit customers. Both women were arrested for prostitution following an undercover operation executed by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
On at least two occasion on 2014, Young was stopped by police and a gun was found in the car. On each occasion, the woman traveling with Young claimed that the gun was hers. One of the women later admitted to police that Young had given her the firearm, and that he routinely possessed firearms. She stated that Young had the women take responsibility for the firearms if discovered by police. One of the guns, a 9mm handgun recovered on Dec. 15, 2014, was stolen.
On Feb. 12, 2015, the Prince George’s County Police Department arrested Young for a parole violation. Young was outside of a local business that was owned by a friend. The owner consented to a search of the business and officers recovered a bag belonging to Young. The owner also told police that he had seen Young with firearms, and when the owner saw police outside the shop, he hid the firearms above the ceiling tiles so Young wouldn’t get in trouble. Investigators recovered the two.45 caliber handguns from the ceiling. Both handguns had been stolen.
Investigation showed that all three of the stolen handguns had been taken from a prostitution customer, a gun collector who kept a gun safe on the same floor of his house as the master bedroom. Young had gone to the house once with two of the women he trafficked, and the gun safe was not fully locked and closed. Women who worked for Young twice stole firearms from the customer and provided them to Young. A total of five firearms were stolen from the customer’s home.
Young took photos of the five firearms using his cell phone and sent them to other individuals. The photos of the guns were taken inside the apartment Young provided to the women in exchange for Young collecting the proceeds of their commercial sex acts. Young controlled all of the women’s money and movements, threatening to beat them if they did not comply with his instructions. Young’s cell phone contained images of the injuries resulting from a severe beating he inflicted on one of the women. In addition, Young provided the women with narcotics and withheld narcotics from addicted women in order to exert control over them.
Young and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement Young will be sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III has scheduled Young’s sentencing for June 16, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. Young has been detained since his arrest in Oct. 19, 2015.
This case was investigated by 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.
Report suspected instances of human trafficking to HSI's tip line at 866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended HSI-Baltimore, Howard County, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County Police Departments, and the Howard County and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Offices for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein recognized the U.S. Marshals Service, Knox County (TN) Sheriff’s Office and Prince William County (VA) Police Department for their assistance and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary A. Myers and Patricia C. McLane, who are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
