Another RI Teen Sentenced for Sex Trafficking Underage Girls

A second East Providence teenager who forced underage girls into prostitution has been convicted of sex trafficking of a minor.

Brian Desmaris, 18, pleaded no contest to two counts of sex trafficking of a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor before Family Court Judge Michael B. Forte on Monday and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with 19 months and two days to serve. The remainder of the sentence was suspended with probation.

Desmaris will begin his sentence at the Rhode Island Training School until a hearing before his 19th birthday during which the Family Court judge will decide if it should be modified or if he should be transferred to the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, the state prison.

Desmaris, who was 17 at the time of the crimes, co-conspired with Jermaine “Jmaire” Wray, 16; and 20-year-old Reginald Chaney, also of East Providence, to force two girls between the ages of 15 and 16 to pose for racy photos that were posted on Backpage.com, a site used frequently by pimps and prostitutes.

In January, they forced the girls into prostitution by arranging meetings with adult men who responded to the ads for sex with the girls in Seekonk, Mass., Providence, Warwick, Charlestown and Narragansett, among other places.

East Providence police arrested Wray and Chaney in January. Desmaris was identified as a co-conspirator during the investigation and was arrested in March.

Chaney is currently being held in Rhode Island state custody as a Superior Court probation violator on a five-year suspended sentence imposed on January 14 for a weapons charge.

In April, a federal grand jury in Providence returned a six-count indictment charging Reginald Chaney with conspiracy, sex trafficking of a child, and transportation of a minor.

Wray pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 15 years, six to serve in September.

“This case is a stark reminder that sex trafficking can and does happen in every community. It is truly disturbing for someone as young as the defendant to be manipulating other teens and forcing them into the commercial sex industry,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin. “I commend the cooperative efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement to save these young victims. That cooperation between agencies is critical to shutting down these types of operations.”

According to a criminal complaint filed in January, Chaney came to the attention of police after the 16-year-old victim went to the hospital and a rape report was filed.

During the investigation, detectives learned that Chaney used a taser on the victims the night the girls were photographed in their underwear and “continually threatened to use the taser [on one of the victims] if she refused to do anything.”

Chaney reportedly collected anywhere from $60 to $250 for each sexual act he organized between the Johns using backpage.com and the underage girls.

In another instance, according to the complaint, a John in Charlestown “declared they appeared too young and asked them to leave,” giving the victim $60 for gas.

In another, one of the victims, after a night at the motel in Seekonk, was led to a car where another John was waiting in the back seat. When she refused to have sex, he reportedly held her arms against her side and raped her.

The John then paid Chaney the money and the victim told police that she believed the rape was brutal lesson planned by Chaney “in retribution for her unwillingness to perform sexual intercourse with his clients.”

“The common thread among all our human trafficking cases is Backpage.com, the favored site for human traffickers. Backpage.com can no longer claim ignorance of the illegal activity that is conducted through their website while making a profit off the selling of people for sex,” Kilmartin said.“It is unimaginable for two teenage boys to conspire to commit such a heinous act, yet this is not an isolated case. It is not unheard of for teenagers to engage in this type of criminal behavior, targeting vulnerable peers and forcing them into sexual servitude. And, easy access to sites like Backpage.com enables them to do so.”

East Providence Police Detective Michael Field, Providence Police Detective Koren Garcia and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jodie Dinghy led the investigation. Special Assistant Attorney General Arthur DeFelice prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General. The case against Reginald Chaney is being prosecuted jointly in federal court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela E. Chin and Assistant Rhode Island Attorney General Daniel Carr Guglielmo.