A federal jury in Brooklyn has convicted Joel David Forney, also known as “Sirbar,” on charges of sex trafficking and related offenses. The conviction follows a five-day trial before United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto.
Forney was found guilty of using force, fraud, and coercion to compel two women to work as prostitutes, including at the open-air sex trafficking market along Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York known as the Penn Track. He was also convicted of transporting one woman between New York and other states such as Connecticut and Wisconsin for prostitution purposes. Additionally, Forney was found guilty of coercion and enticement of a minor with whom he had sexual intercourse in 2014 when he was 31 years old.
When sentenced, Forney faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, with the possibility of up to life.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge at the FBI’s New York Field Office announced the verdict.
“The jury found that Forney used violence and threats to compel women to engage in commercial sex acts at the Penn Track for his own profit, and enticed a vulnerable minor into having sex with him” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Our Office will relentlessly pursue those, like the defendant, who engage in sex trafficking, and I commend the survivors of Forney’s depraved conduct who bravely assisted law enforcement in bringing him to justice."
Mr. Nocella also expressed his thanks to the FBI/NYPD Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force for their investigative work on this case.
“The defendant used violence and threats of violence to compel his victims to engage in commercial sex for his profit,” stated Assistant Attorney General Dhillon. “There is no place in a civilized society for the defendant’s inhumane conduct, and the Justice Department is committed to punishing human trafficking and achieving justice for its victims.”
“Joel Forney lured and forced women into commercial sexual acts with multiple individuals for his own profit and personally sought out and sexually abused a minor. Forney mercilessly punished and threatened extreme violence to induce compliance from his trafficked victims. May today’s conviction empower survivors of sexual violence and emphasize the FBI’s intolerance of those who seek to profit from another’s abuse,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
During trial proceedings it was shown that Forney used false promises as part of his trafficking operation. He lured women into prostitution by making deceptive offers before compelling them into commercial sex while keeping their earnings. When these women refused or resisted, evidence showed that he subjected them to physical abuse or made violent threats—including showing one victim an image on his cellphone depicting a dismembered woman accompanied by a warning about what happens "to whores who don’t obey their pimps."
The court also heard that Forney met a third victim—a minor—in June 2014 near his home in Queens, New York. Through romantic messages, offers of money, discussions about her personal life as a teenager—including school matters—and subsequent meetings at his house where he engaged in sexual activity with her despite knowing she was no more than 15 years old.
Authorities encourage anyone with information about human trafficking to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org for resources on reporting suspected cases or learning more about ongoing efforts against human trafficking by agencies such as https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
The prosecution team included Assistant United States Attorneys Antoinette N. Rangel and Lauren A. Bowman from the Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section; Trial Attorney Leah Branch from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit; Paralegal Specialist Chelsea Guzman; Victim Witness Coordinator Huda Abouchaer; and Victim Witness Specialist Kristina Marius.
The defendant is identified as Joel David Forney (also known as “Sirbar”), age 42 from Kissimmee, Florida (E.D.N.Y Docket No. 24-CR-146).
