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Months after a federal jury found a man guilty of sex trafficking and forcing women to prostitute in the Logan Circle and Shaw neighborhoods, authorities have arrested another suspect in connection with the case.
The latest arrest occurred Aug. 2, when members of the federal Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force — which includes officers from the District — took Anthony Gray, 37, of Clinton, Md., into custody.
Terrell “Supreme” Armstead, 29, faces a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence after a jury in U.S. District Court in Washington convicted him. Armstead was convicted on one count of sex trafficking by a federal jury in a seven day trial.
According to charging documents, Armstead used an Instagram hashtag “#TeamSupreme” to advertise a commercial prostitution business. Prosecutors said he posted videos, images of cash and asked “Who wants to join TeamSupreme?” Armstead also promoted “the choosing season,” when pimps seek recruits or try to persuade women already working for other traffickers to change allegiances.
58-year-old Kenneth Wayne Hart has been convicted in a federal drug and sex trafficking case for prostituting women in the District and in Maryland and using the Internet to advertise, according to federal prosecutors.
He was also found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking along with sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. Hart ran a prostitution business that recruited women to engage in sex acts. supplied the women with heroin and crack cocaine and threatened to withhold drugs.
Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery and it’s happening across the U.S., including in Maryland. Baltimore is considered a hub as it’s along the I-95 corridor which is used by traffickers to move victims across state lines easily
Ryan Russell Parks, also known as “Dinero,” 26, of Baltimore, MD, trafficked both a 15 and 16-year-old girl, prosecutors said. Parks used online ads with photos of the girls and descriptions of them for commercial sex acts.
Uber, a ride-sharing service, trained its drivers in Baltimore, MD, to spot possible signs of human trafficking. Uber partnered with the Polaris Project, a non-profit that fights human trafficking and runs a national hotline. Polaris said there were more than 650 sex trafficking cases reported to their hotline in Maryland between December 2007 and June 2018.
De’Angelo Johnson, otherwise known as “Cowboy” or “D”, age 31, of Maryland, faces federal indictment charges for sex trafficking and distribution of heroin and cocaine that may have occurred August 2018 through May 2019.
Valdez Lawrence, 34, of Baltimore, MD, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in human trafficking and five counts of human trafficking. Police interviewed several victims who said they worked for Lawrence and discovered how he ran the trafficking operation.
Authorities in Baltimore, MD, said they shut down a brothel, made four arrests and rescued two victims. Edward Sanchez, Gladys Luna-Hernandez, Jose Arevalo and Julio Galvan were arrested and charged with human trafficking and prostitution. The victims were immediately placed in safe housing.
Aldridge, Lankford and Murphy rented hotel rooms for the woman to engage in commercial sex acts, as well as transporting the woman to “out calls” to hotel rooms and other locations to engage in commercial sex acts, including transporting her across state lines. Aldridge allegedly provided narcotics, including heroin, to the woman to recruit, entice and maintain the woman throughout the course of her engaging in commercial sex acts.
Finding new and innovative ways to combat the demand for purchased sex, raise awareness to this nationwide epidemic, and provide safe environments for victims.