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November 4, 2016Alexandria, VA, United StatesHuman Smuggling/Trafficking

Leader of violent sex trafficking ring sentenced to 35 years

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A North Carolina man was sentenced Friday to 420 months in prison for leading a violent sex trafficking ring responsible for prostituting women and girls across multiple Virginia cities. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Michael Lawrence Maynes Jr., 34, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, prostituted women and girls in Alexandria, Richmond, Springfield, Chantilly, Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, among other locations. A federal jury found him guilty of the charges May 19.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Maynes was the leader of a sex trafficking organization known as Horse Block Pimpin. From 2010 to 2013, Maynes prostituted countless women in and out of Virginia. He convinced women to work for him by claiming he wanted a relationship with them or that they would be able to keep part of the profits from their work as prostitutes. At times, Maynes targeted women who had lost custody of their children and promised to help them stabilize their lives so they could regain custody. Maynes also recruited women who were homeless or addicted to drugs. Occasionally, Maynes would isolate the women geographically and socially, use violence and drugs to control them and withhold access to their children until they reached a daily quota.

Maynes recruited the mother of his child to work for him. She recruited women, posted advertisements, collected proceeds and transported victims to various hotels. Maynes also recruited his cousin, Robert Bonner Jr., and a pretend half-brother, Michael Randall, as co-conspirators in his sex trafficking organization. The men operated together to recruit, harbor and prostitute women and girls, and they used force, coercion, and drugs to keep the women prostituting. The victims were required to give their prostitution proceeds to Maynes and his co-conspirators.

Bonner and Randall previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 30 years and 25 years in prison, respectively. 

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