Eight indicted on federal sex-trafficking charges
Eight Columbia residents were charged in a 26-count indictment for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
The maximum sentence if convicted is life in prison. In addition to conspiracy, each suspect is charged with related offenses.
“The prosecution of these types of cases is more than a job,” said Bill Nettles, chief federal prosecutor in South Carolina. “It is our reason for being.”
Those accused are:
▪ Damon Jackson, 23, is charged with two counts of trafficking of a minor for sex involving force, fraud and coercion and six counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.
▪ Kerry Taylor, 21, was charged with two counts of trafficking of a minor for sex involving force, fraud and coercion, one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
▪ Da’Shun Shukur Curry, 23, is charged with three counts of trafficking of a minor for sex involving force, fraud and coercion.
▪ Bakari Shahid McMillan, 23, was charged with two counts of trafficking of a minor and one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.
▪ Ryan Shaquon Turner, 22, was charged with two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.
▪ Tremel Black, 31, was charged with one count of trafficking of a minor and one count of sex trafficking.
▪ Howard Parker, 24, was charged with one count of trafficking of a minor and one count of sex trafficking.
▪ Desmond Singletary, 30, was charged with one count of sex trafficking.
The case was handled by the Homeland Security Investigations and City of North Charleston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Austin of the Charleston office is prosecuting the case.
Information regarding human trafficking should be reported to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), Polaris – Freedom Happens Now, 24-hour National Hotline: 1-888-373-7888.
Glen Luke Flanagan: 803-771-8305, @glenlflanagan
Third conviction under S.C. trafficking law
A Columbia man pleaded guilty to human-trafficking charges Wednesday and was sentenced in Richland County, the S.C. attorney general’s office said.
Kristopher Block, 23, received 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and human trafficking of a minor, Attorney General Alan Wilson said. When Block is released, he must register as a sex offender and undergo lifetime electronic monitoring.
On Dec. 4, 2014, Block was found at a motel in Columbia with a minor victim. Block admitted taking photos of the victim and advertising her for sale on the Internet, according to the attorney general.
Block’s case represents the third human-trafficking conviction in the Palmetto State under the state’s 2012 revised human-trafficking law, the attorney general’s office said.
This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Eight indicted on federal sex-trafficking charges."