Jamaican man sentenced to 27 years for sex trafficking in US, Australia

MIAMI – A Jamaican man was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in prison followed by a lifetime term of supervised release for his role in a sex trafficking operation. The sentence was the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) offices in Miami, Orlando, New York and Singapore, as well as the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Australian Federal Police and the Dubai Police Department.

Damion St. Patrick Baston, 37, of New York, was convicted July 3 on three counts of sex trafficking – both in the U.S. and Australia – five counts of transporting multiple individuals for prostitution, one count of importation of an alien for prostitution, one count of using a passport secured by false statement, one count of aggravated identity theft and nine counts of money laundering. Baston was also found guilty of illegally reentering the United States after being previously removed.

According to court documents, Baston victimized seven women in the Middle East, Australia and the United States. Six victims bravely testified at trial that they had been trafficked for sex beginning in 2011 in various cities including Miami. Baston had been ordered removed from the United States in the late 1990s but stole the identity of an American citizen, which he used to obtain a Florida ID card and U.S. passport in that person’s name. Baston used this false identity for international travel as he continued to recruit and victimize women.