New York Pimp Took Woman From Silver Spring Hotel Room

A federal jury convicted a New York pimp on Thursday on charges related to sex trafficking, some of which took place in Silver Spring, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

Jeremy Naughton, 32, faces a possible life sentence for his role in coercing women to work as prostitutes, prosectors said in a news release.

Naughton "held young women against their will, and used violence, sexual abuse and threats to compel them to work for him as prostitutes,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in a statement.    

Among instances of Naughton coercing women to work as prostitutes locally was an occasion when he forced a woman from her hotel room in Silver Spring on Feb. 8, 2010, forced her to stay with him at his apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and sexually abused her before attempting to prostitute her from a hotel in Long Island, New York, according to evidence presented at his trial.

Just two months earlier, Naughton, also known as “Jerms Black,”  had violently assaulted a woman in another Montgomery County hotel.

When sentenced on Aug. 15, Naughton faces a maximum of life in prison for conspiring to commit sex trafficking, and sentences ranging from seven to 15 years for related sex trafficking, prostitution and firearms offenses.

During a 14-day trial, prosecutors argued that Naughton and his long-time friend, Charles Anderson, targeted female prostitutes between the ages of 19 and 28 who were working without a pimp. Often, women who had posted ads on websites advertising prosititution services were lured to hotel rooms where they were accosted by Naughton and Anderson and made to work for the two men.

In a news release, prosecutors gave examples.

In the summer of 2009, Naughton enticed a woman to come to an apartment in Brooklyn, where he imprisoned her and invited others to sexually abuse her. In September of 2009, Naughton forced open the door of a woman’s hotel room, stole her cell phone and identification, and detained her while demanding that she work for him as a prostitute. In October 2009 in his apartment, Naughton displayed a handgun, struck a woman, choked her and forced her to perform sex.

Many other instances were given.  

The other man connected to the crimes, Charles Anderson, 26, of Brooklyn, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14.