St. Croix, USVI - U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced today that a St. Croix man, Zayvon Acoy, age 31, appeared before Magistrate Judge George W. Cannon, Jr., in District Court, and pleaded guilty on July 7, 2021 to one count of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in prostitution and sexual activity.
According to court documents, between May and July of 2017, the defendant, Zayvon Acoy, conspired with his co-defendant to transport Acoy’s minor-aged girlfriend (age 17) by vehicle from an area around Peter’s Rest in St. Croix to the co-defendant’s residence in an area of Beeston Hill in St. Croix, for the purpose of the co-defendant engaging the minor in unlawful sexual activity, specifically commercial sex. The minor entered the co-defendant’s residence and the co-defendant had sexual intercourse with the minor. After engaging the minor in unlawful sexual activity, the co-defendant gave Acoy cash in exchange for the co-defendant’s engagement with the minor.
Acoy is scheduled to be sentenced on November 5, 2021 and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Virgin Islands Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard E. Potter is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative. Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information on the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, please see: https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
