Stone Mountain man sentenced on federal sex trafficking and prostitution charges

Published 6:45 pm Thursday, January 24, 2008

Submitted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office



ATLANTA — Jimmie Lee Jones, also known as “Mike Spade,” 32, of Stone Mountain, was sentenced today to serve 15 years in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking and transporting young women across state lines for purposes of prostitution.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “This sentence should send a clear message that those who engage in sex trafficking will be harshly punished. This defendant preyed on numerous young American women who fell for his fraudulent modeling scheme. The victims signed contracts that resulted in them being indebted to the defendant, and, consequently, being forced and coerced into prostitution to pay back the money they owed under the contracts. The case broke when two victims were brave enough to come forward and report the defendant to the Atlanta Police Department, whose Human Trafficking Task Force worked closely with the FBI in gaining justice for these victims.”

In Washington D.C., Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Grace Chung Becker, said of the case, “This case shows that human trafficking can occur anytime, anywhere, and against any vulnerable victim, including U.S. citizens and college students. The Department of Justice is committed to rescuing victims of human trafficking and ensuring that those who commit these crimes are brought to justice.”

Jones was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Jones was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $60,600 to six victims.

According to Nahmias and the information presented in court, from 2000 to 2005, Jones conspired to force six victims, identified only by their initials, to engage in commercial sex acts through force, fraud and coercion and caused two juvenile victims to engage in commercial sex acts knowing that they had not reached the age of 18 years. Jones lured and recruited the minor and adult victims into prostitution with promises of legitimate modeling or exotic dancing work and used physical violence, threats of violence, deception and other forms of coercion to compel the victims to work as prostitutes. Jones pleaded guilty just after his federal trial began.

Numerous victims were in court at today’s sentencing hearing and testified that Jones caused them to engage in sex acts, including oral sex and vaginal intercourse with himself and others, by striking them and threatening to beat them. He used actual violence, threats of violence, threats of financial ruin, threats to ruin their credit, threats to expose sexually explicit videotapes, monetary fines and other forms of coercion to force the young women to work as prostitutes. Jones also recruited two minors, whom he knew to be under the age of 18, to work as prostitutes for him. Jones also used actual violence, threats of violence and other forms of coercion to compel the victims under contract to pay him hundreds of dollars a week toward their contractual debts and fines levied by the defendant.

One victim submitted a written statement to the Court, outlining the abuse she suffered at the hands of Jones and stating that Jones was “a cruel and manipulative man whose life revolved around the sexual, emotional, physical and psychological exploitation of young women.” She stated that her life was devastated and she even considered suicide on more than one occasion to escape Jones’ brutality. Another victim called Jones a predator and yet another said she now has difficulty trusting men because of her experience with Jones.

According to the evidence, Jones approached young women at colleges, stores, music events, restaurants or nightclubs. He lured and convinced them to socialize with him by representing himself as a successful modeling and casting agent for companies he claimed he ran as either “Candy Girl Casting” or “Dime Piece Entertainment.” The defendant used the presence of “Michelle,” a woman who had found some modeling work, to recruit the women as potential models.

Once the victims began socializing with Jones, he persuaded the victims to work in strip clubs as dancers, claiming that it was necessary for their modeling careers to be “comfortable” with their bodies, and that they could make large sums of money.

Jones convinced five of the victims to sign contracts whereby they agreed to pay him between $300 and $450 weekly for 52 weeks. In exchange, Jones promised that he would get the victims modeling jobs in magazines and music videos. After convincing the young women that he was a modeling agent, Jones used a combination of violence, threats and intimidation to compel them to work as prostitutes.

Human trafficking prosecutions are a top priority of the Department of Justice. In the last six fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country, has increased by six-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court. In 2006, the department obtained a record number of convictions in human trafficking prosecutions. Anyone with information on such cases should contact police. The FBI-Atlanta can be contacted at (404) 679-9000.

The case was investigated by special agents of the FBI and officers of the Atlanta Police Department, Human Trafficking Task Force.

Assistant United States Attorney Susan Coppedge and DOJ Civil Rights Attorney Karima Maloney prosecuted the case.