NJ Attorney General: Area Woman Among 5 Charged with Human Trafficking

An area woman is one of five people indicted by a New Jersey State Grand Jury on first-degree charges of conspiracy, human trafficking and promoting prostitution of a minor, authorities said.

Ernestine Bowman, 31, of Orange, was one of five defendants charged on Friday, April 10, for allegedly prostituting a 16-year-old girl they trafficked from New York to New Jersey, as part of a prostitution ring advertised as “Backpage.com”, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

The four other defendants named in the 12-count indictment include:

• Glen Bowman Sr., 40, of Newark, New Jersey, Ernestine’s husband;
• Jessica Renee Copeland, 26, of Newark, New Jersey;
• Tokina P. Williams, 31, of Raleigh, North Carolina;
• Glen Bowman Jr., 20, of Brooklyn, New York

The five defendants allegedly conspired to traffic the teenage girl from Brooklyn, New York, to northern New Jersey and make her work as a prostitute in motels in South Hackensack and Clifton, the prosecutor’s office said. The 16-year-old girl was reported missing out of New York State.

“These defendants cruelly exploited a runaway who was only 16, trapping her in a wretched life of prostitution,” Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said. “We charge that they ruthlessly did what human traffickers always do to turn an illicit profit, which is to target vulnerable victims, deprive them of any benevolent support, and conscript them into modern-day slavery.”

Ernestine Bowman has been held in the Bergen County Jail since her arrest, on $200,000 bail. Glen Bowman Sr. and Copeland are in custody in New York City on the New York State charges, with their bails set at $200,000 and $20,000, respectively, the Attorney General’s Office said.

Arrest warrants were issued for Williams and Glen Bowman Jr. as a result of Friday’s indictment. They remain fugitives.

All five defendants have been charged with first-degree conspiracy, first-degree human trafficking, first-degree promoting prostitution of a child under 18, second-degree facilitating human trafficking, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Additionally, Ernestine and Glen Bowman Sr. have each been charged with first- and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Williams has been charged with an additional count of second-degree promoting prostitution and all of the defendants, with the exception of Williams, are charged with multiple additional counts of third-degree promoting prostitution, according to the attorney general’s office.

The first-degree human trafficking charge carries a sentence of 20 years without parole to life in state prison and a fine up to $200,000. The other first-degree charges carry sentences of 10 to 20 years in state prison and a fine up to $200,000. The first-degree charge of endangering the welfare of a child carries a mandatory minimum period of parole ineligibility equal to 85 percent of the sentence imposed, the attorney general’s office said.

Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000, while third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.

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