An indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn, New York, today charging a Florida man with sex trafficking multiple women and coercion and enticement of a minor.
"Joel David Forney, 41, of Kissimmee, was charged with sex trafficking; interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution; and coercion and enticement of a minor."
Forney allegedly trafficked women to work in commercial sex in New York, including at an open-air sex trafficking market along a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn known as the Penn Track.
"According to the indictment, for years, Forney preyed on vulnerable women in tough financial circumstances by sex trafficking them, violently assaulting them and subjecting them to constant threats of violence."
If convicted, Forney faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.
"Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York and Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI New York Field Office made the announcement."
The FBI New York Field Office is investigating the case, while Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Leah Branch of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case.
"If you are a victim of trafficking — whether by Forney or someone else — and have information to provide, please contact the FBI, which is prepared to help you regardless of your immigration status, at tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI."
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.