GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - Rajheem Kwamaine Roddey, 24, of Starke, Florida, was sentenced today to 144 months in prison after pleading guilty on June 5, 2018, to benefitting financially from child sex trafficking. The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
On November 8, 2017, co-defendant Bailegh Noelle Coleman, 21, of Starke, pled guilty to child sex trafficking and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26. On Feb. 20, 2018, co-defendant Laney Ellis, 21, also of Starke, pled guilty to child sex trafficking and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 29.
Between April and June 2017, Roddey, Coleman, and Ellis were involved in a scheme to make money using a 14-year-old female to perform sex acts. Advertisements were created of the victim under the false name “Emily" and then posted on Backpage.com. The advertisements were posted in a section for “escort services," when they were actually to offer the victim for commercial sexual activity. Roddey, Coleman, and Ellis profited from the commercial sexual activity.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, which includes the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and the Gainesville Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Frank Williams prosecuted the case.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
