Pimp Sentenced To 20 Years For Trafficking Women Across State Lines

BALTIMORE, MD — A 34-year-old New Carrollton man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for coercing women to travel across state lines to engage in prostitution, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the District of Maryland.

Jason David Young—also known as Bird, J Bird and Chris—pleaded guilty to using physical, mental and emotional abuse and threats to cause women to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit from September 2013 to October 2015, prosecutors said.

On at least two occasions in 2014, Young was stopped by police with a gun in his car, and the woman traveling with him claimed the gun was hers. One of the women later admitted to police that Young had given her the gun and told her that she needed to take responsibility for it if discovered by police.

Young admitted that in January 2015, he drove two women to Tennessee to engage in commercial sex acts in hotel rooms he rented. Young posted several online advertisements to recruit customers, prosecutors said. The women were both arrested for prostitution in an undercover operation by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.

Prosecutors said Young controlled all of the women's money and movements, and threatened to beat them if they did not comply with his instructions. Young's cell phone had photos of injuries he inflicted on one of the women in a severe beating, prosecutors said. Young also provided the women with narcotics and withheld the drugs from addicted women in order to exert control over them.

Young was arrested for a parole violation by the Prince George's County Police Department on February 12, 2015. Prosecutors said police saw Young outside of a local business that was owned by his friend.

The owner told police that he saw Young with firearms and hid the firearms above the ceiling tiles so Young would not get in trouble. Investigators recovered two .45 caliber handguns from the ceiling, which were both stolen.

Prosecutors said the guns had been stolen from a prostitution customer, who was a gun collector who kept a gun safe in his home. The women working for Young stole a total of five guns from the customer and gave them to Young, prosecutors said.

Report suspected instances of human trafficking to HSI's tip line at 866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

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