A federal jury in the Middle District of Alabama convicted two Montgomery men, Kimani Jones, 32, also known as “Statik,” and Tremayne Lambert, 50, also known as “Bayrock,” on multiple charges of sex trafficking following a four-day trial.
The conviction brings an end to a case that exposed an extensive, coercive commercial sex operation that victimized numerous women and girls, including minors.
The jury found that Kimani Jones organized and led the sex trafficking operation between August 2016 and November 2020. Specifically, Jones was found guilty of compelling seven victims, including two minors, to commit commercial sex acts. He was also convicted of transporting and causing the transportation of two victims, including one minor, across state lines for prostitution purposes.
Jones’s father, Tremayne Lambert, was also found guilty of sex trafficking. The jury determined that Lambert trafficked one victim between August 2017 and February 2018 and two other victims between July 2019 and November 2020. The evidence showed Lambert, who is Jones’s biological father, facilitated the scheme by serving as a monitor and rule enforcer for the victims.
Evidence presented during the trial painted a grim picture of the operation, detailing how Jones exploited vulnerable women and girls for profit. Jones managed every aspect of the scheme:
- Logistics and Marketing: He rented hotel rooms, provided food and drugs, constructed and posted advertisements online to solicit customers, and communicated with potential customers regarding sex acts and prices.
- Control and Intimidation: Jones dictated where victims would live and work, set daily minimum earning quotas, and subsisted entirely off the victims’ earnings, often flaunting his illicit wealth on social media.
- Extensive Violence: Testimony highlighted Jones’s use of physical and sexual violence to maintain dominance and control. Examples included grabbing a minor by the throat and dragging her, routinely striking women in the face—resulting in a broken jaw and knocked-out teeth for different victims—and sexually assaulting them.
- Threats: Jones instilled fear by threatening to harm the victims and, in some cases, their family members. He also leveraged his prior conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, brandishing and shooting weapons in the victims’ presence, and manipulating their withdrawal from drugs like heroin and methamphetamine to compel their cooperation.
“The defendants targeted vulnerable women and girls before using physical and sexual violence, along with threats of violence against them and others, to create a climate of fear that terrified the victims,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This prosecution is a testament to the courageous young women who detailed the coercive scheme these defendants perpetrated for years on scores of women and girls.”
Jones and Lambert now face severe penalties. Both defendants face a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison, as well as mandatory restitution. A federal district court judge will determine the final sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
Three additional co-defendants previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the enterprise: Joseph Keon Bowe, 39, and Daryle Gardner, 32, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, while Aleccia Scott, 29, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony.
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