Thanks to the efforts of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces in New York & West Virginia, two men (Dwanye Anthony Conley, 52 and Jamie Otis Southern, 50), accused of sexual exploitation of children have been sent to prison. Prosecution in both cases followed after months of investigation, and in conjunction with local law enforcement agents.
These developments came in two press releases by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, on Friday, September 10, 2021.
Dwayne Anthony Conley Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison for Coercion and Enticement and Promotion of Prostitution of 5 Victims
This information is contained in this press release by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Early this September, Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Dwayne Anthony Conley, aka “Taquan Rashad,”, “Q,”, and “Pops,” has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for coercion and enticement and the promotion of prostitution of five victims. The defendant previously pled guilty to those offenses on March 11, 2021, before United States District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer.
According to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, “Dwayne Conley exploited and victimized women for his financial gain. He coerced his victims into prostitution, including by physical abuse and exploiting a victim’s heroin addiction. For his wanton indifference to the suffering of his victims – indeed, for inflicting that suffering – Conley has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term.”
According to the Superseding Information, publicly filed documents, and evidence presented at the trial of Conley’s codefendant Justin Rivera, around 2015, Conley persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced a victim, described in the Superseding Information as “Victim‑3,” to travel from New York to Virginia to engage in prostitution. He used violence to compel the victim to cooperate on many occasions. He also exploited the said victim’s severe heroin addiction, verbally abused her, and even used her to further his narcotics trafficking and prostitution business.
At around the same period, Conley also attempted to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce two other victims to travel from New York to Virginia to engage in prostitution. He again promoted the prostitution of two additional victims by posting advertisements on the internet for commercial sex with the victims and providing heroin to one of the victims. At his sentencing hearing, Conley was held accountable for victimizing and exploiting a total of 5 different women. Upon release, he will be facing five years of supervised release.
The arrest operation has been successful due to the efforts of Special Agents and Task Force Officers from the FBI-NYPD New York Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, detectives from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Human Trafficking Investigations Unit, and Special Agents from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Jamie Otis Southern Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Minor
This information is contained in this press release by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
According to court documents, Jamie Otis Southern, 50, of Tazewell County, Virginia, already pleaded guilty and admitted earlier in June 2020 that he contacted a woman on Craigslist who identified herself as a mother who was willing to allow him to have sex with her two children in exchange for money. Southern arranged for the woman to travel from Beckley to a hotel in Princeton with both girls - aged 11 and 14 - who the woman stated were her daughters.
Southern agreed to pay approximately $400 plus the hotel room cost to engage in oral sex and sexual intercourse with the girls. Southern also admitted that in July 2020, he had images and videos of suspected child pornography on an SD card in his cell phone.
Upon release from prison, Southern will be placed on federal supervised release for 15 years and must register as a sex offender. Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston announced that Southern will serve a 15-jail term for his offenses and will, upon release, be placed on federal supervised release for another15 years and must register as a sex offender. United States District Judge Frank W. Volk imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald handled the prosecution.
The investigation and arrest operation was successful thanks to the investigative work of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and the efforts of frontline officers at Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Project Safe Childhood is led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section; project Safe Childhood marshals at the federal, state, and local levels deploy resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute people who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
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