A California man will spend life in prison for transporting a female victim across the U.S. and into Mississippi for sex trafficking purposes.
54-year-old Michael Deon Fulcher is found to have used sexual assault, threats of violence, isolation, control, psychological manipulation, and emotional abuse to compel an unidentified victim to engage in commercial sex between April and June 2020.
The subject is said to have 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. Shortly afterward, Fulcher brought the victim to California, where he acted in concert with 35-year-old Jonzie Hamilton to compel the victim to engage in commercial sex acts for several weeks.
According to evidence presented in court, Fulcher required the victim to follow his strict rules, threatened her with physical harm, confiscated her money and Social Security debit card, and even had an unlicensed dentist pull out her teeth.
The subject also sent the victim and his cohort across the country to engage in commercial sex, stopping in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
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 access to her phone, isolating her from anyone she knew, and refusing to allow her to receive much-needed medical treatment.
The victim was able to escape from Fulcher in Mississippi.
“Human trafficking is not just a plot for Hollywood movies,” U.S. Attorney Todd Gee for the Southern District of Mississippi said.
“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. But this crime sadly still occurs all too often, and law enforcement needs your help to stop it. If you are a victim of human trafficking or believe that you may have witnessed it occurring, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.”
Hamilton previously pleaded guilty to interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution and awaits sentencing.
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