CINCINNATI - Malik D.M. Bell, 24, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 210 months in prison for sex trafficking of children and production of child pornography.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Field Office and West Chester Township Police Chief Joel Herzog announced the sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black.
Bell was indicted in March 2016 and pleaded guilty to the two counts in February 2017.
According to the Statement of Facts in this case, Bell recruited a 15-year-old female to engage in a commercial sex act. Specifically, he began communicating with the victim through Tagged.com in April 2015. At that time, he made plans with the victim to get together with the intent of prostituting the minor.
Bell drove from Cincinnati to Fort Mitchell, Ky. to pick up the girl and bring her to the Tri-County Inn hotel in West Chester, Ohio. There, Bell engaged in sex acts with the minor and video recorded some of the activity on his cell phone.
Bell took nude and partially nude photos of the victim and created advertisements with them on Backpage.com. Bell arranged for at least two men to have sexual intercourse with the minor at the hotel. He instructed the victim about how much to charge for various amounts of time and sexual acts and the victim provided Bell with the money paid.
“Malik Bell took advantage of a vulnerable juvenile and sexually exploited her for his own financial gain," U.S. Attorney Glassman said. “Today’s sentence illustrates how egregious his criminal actions were."
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI and West Chester Township Police, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Kyle J. Healey, who is representing the United States in this case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
