Aaron T. Simmons, 26, of Greenville, South Carolina, was sentenced this week to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking four women and a minor.
Simmons pleaded guilty in November 2023.
“This significant prison sentence reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s brutal conduct inflicted on victims, including a minor, for many months,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The sexual exploitation of victims in this manner robs them of their freedom, dignity, and sense of security and stands to scar them for life. Such venal, rapacious conduct is unacceptable in our society.”
Court documents indicate that between August 2019 and August 2020, the defendant coerced three adult victims into repeated commercial sex acts in the Greenville area using physical beatings, threats, intimidation, control, and psychological manipulation.
Additionally, between August 2019 and November 2019, the defendant facilitated the involvement of a 17-year-old minor in commercial sex acts in the Greenville area.
The FBI Columbia Field Office and Greenville Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Fisher Sherard for the District of South Carolina and Trial Attorney Francisco Zornosa of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case.