Date: 01-06-2024

Case Style:

United States of America v. Leon Sims

Case Number: 2:23-cr-00012

Judge: David Bunning

Court: The United States Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky (Fayette County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Lexington

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Lexington, Kentucky Criminal Defense Lawyer represented the Defendant am Ohio Man Sentenced for Interstate Prostitution.

An Ohio man, Leon Sims, 41, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, by U.S. District Judge David Bunning, for a violation of the Mann Act, which is the engagement of interstate prostitution.

According to his plea agreement, on December 14, 2020, law enforcement officers responded to an advertisement for prostitution services posted on a sex-advertisement website. Law enforcement observed Sims transport a victim to a hotel room and proceed to wait for her in the car. Subsequent investigation revealed that, from at least October 2020 through January 2021, Sims arranged prostitution activities for the victim using online advertisements, managed those activities, communicated with prostitution customers and kept the profits from the prostitution appointments. During the course of managing the victim’s prostitution activities, Sims transported the victim from Kentucky to both Ohio and California for the purpose of prostitution. At sentencing, it was determined that Sims used fraud or coercion to get the victim to participate in prostitution including verbal threats, withholding basic necessities, and false promises.

Under federal law, Sims must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Michael E. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; Daniel Cameron, Kentucky Attorney General; and Sheriff Michael A. Helmig, Boone County Sherriff’s Office, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by FBI, Kentucky Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigation, and Boone County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kyle Winslow and Erin Roth are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 37 months in prison.

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