On July 31, Kevin L. Smith, 29, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 23 years of incarceration after he pleaded guilty to charges relating to his operation of a sex trafficking ring in Philadelphia and the surrounding region.
This case was brought pursuant to Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. According to the project’s webpage, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. Under this project, this case was investigated by the FBI, the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division, the Bensalem Police Department, the Media Borough Police Department, the Tinicum Township Police Department, and the Philadelphia Police Department, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brittany Jones and Assistant United States Attorney Priya T. DeSouza.
The charges stemmed from Smith’s trafficking multiple victims, including a minor, in Philadelphia and surrounding Bucks and Delaware counties. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, from 2015 to 2017, Smith operated a sex trafficking enterprise at various times, using threats of physical violence to force two young women into performing sex acts for money. Then, in September 2019, Smith harbored, maintained, and advertised a minor, knowing the minor would be forced to engage in commercial sex acts.
On December 2, 2023, Smith pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking a minor, three counts of sex trafficking by force, threats of force, coercion and attempt.
“Smith’s sexual exploitation of his victims was horrific,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a news release. “May those victims take some comfort, and find some measure of justice, in the lengthy prison sentence he’ll now be serving. Our office, alongside the FBI and our other partners, is working every day to put away these predatory sex traffickers who for some reason feel entitled to treat vulnerable young people as their personal property.”
“Sex trafficking, especially when it involves a minor, is one of the most heinous crimes we investigate,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia. “The sentencing of Kevin Smith is not just a testament to the diligent investigative work conducted by the FBI and our law enforcement partners, but reaffirms our mission of protecting innocent victims from exploitation.”
Under federal law, a person is guilty of trafficking if they recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, advertise, maintain, patronize, or solicit a person for a commercial sex act. To be guilty of sex trafficking of a minor, the prosecution must only prove that the defendant engaged in soliciting, enticing, harboring, obtaining, patronizing, or transporting a minor who is or will be subject to sexual servitude. Because the victim is a minor, the Government does not need to prove the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded the victim’s age, nor does the Government have to prove that anything of value was exchanged for the sex act. Under both federal and state law, any commercial sexual exploitation of minors constitutes sex trafficking because children cannot consent to be bought or sold for sex.
The CSE Institute praises the FBI, Delaware County CID, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and local law enforcement agencies for their collaborative efforts to combat commercial sexual exploitation in our Commonwealth. We urge law enforcement to continue taking steps to protect their communities by conducting thorough investigations into suspected sex trafficking, and we encourage prosecutors statewide to utilize the human trafficking statutes when appropriate.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.