A California man was sentenced Tuesday for sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, according to authorities.
Michael Deon Fulcher, 54, of Gardena, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found Fulcher guilty in January, officials stated.
“Human trafficking is not just a plot for Hollywood movies,” said U.S. Attorney Todd Gee for the Southern District of Mississippi. “It happens all over the country in a variety of ways, and even here in Mississippi as the tragic facts of this case show. The strength and resiliency of the victim in this case to escape the defendant and then report what happened will ensure that he never harms anyone else again.”
The evidence presented at trial demonstrated that Fulcher used sexual assault, threats of violence, isolation, control, psychological manipulation and emotional abuse to compel the victim to engage in commercial sex between April and June 2020.
Fulcher lured the physically injured victim into his car in Las Vegas by making false promises to help her but then brought her to his home, where he sexually assaulted her, officials stated.
Shortly afterward, Fulcher brought the victim to California, where he acted in concert with a co-defendant, Jonzie Hamilton, to compel the victim to engage in commercial sex acts over several weeks.
Fulcher required the victim to follow his strict rules, threatened the victim with physical harm, confiscated her money and Social Security debit card, and even had an unlicensed dentist pull out her teeth, according to officials stated.
Fulcher also sent the victim and Hamilton across the country to engage in commercial sex, stopping in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and eventually Mississippi where the victim ran away.
While the victim was on the road, Fulcher required the victim to send him all of her earnings and continued his coercive scheme by threatening the victim with physical harm, controlling her access to her phone, isolating her from anyone she knew, and refusing to allow her to receive much-needed medical treatment for an existing chronic illness.
Hamilton was previously sentenced on April 9 to 29 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to interstate transportation for prostitution.
The FBI Jackson Field Office, Gulfport Resident Agency, investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Kate Alexander and Francisco Zornosa of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case, assisted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones for the Southern District of Mississippi.