United States v. Williams
United States v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
T. S. Ellis, III, United States District Judge *814At issue post trial in this sex-trafficking prosecution is the proper amount of restitution to be paid by the four convicted sex traffickers to the three minor victims of the sex trafficking. More specifically, defendants Ivan Williams ("Williams"), Dennis Davis ("Davis"), Chelsea Canterbury ("Canterbury"), and Rebecca Hamilton ("Hamilton") were convicted of sex trafficking three minors, A.L., J.C., and J.C.M. Following defendants' convictions, the government moved for a restitution order in the amount of $119,300
I.
The pertinent facts may be succinctly summarized. On April 25, 2017, Hamilton was charged in, and pled guilty to, a one-count criminal information of aiding and abetting Canterbury, Williams, and Davis to recruit, entice, and maintain in prostitution three minor girls, A.L., J.C., and J.C.M., in violation of
At Williams's and Davis's trial, the government presented the testimony of several witnesses, including: cooperating defendants Hamilton, Canterbury, the three minor victims, Detectives Doug Carey Wood and Al Richardson with Henrico County Police, Detectives Brendan Miller and John Spata with Fairfax County Police, and FBI Special Agent Alix Skelton. The government also introduced into evidence more than 200 exhibits, including: social media postings, prostitution advertisements for each of the minor victims, and text message conversations between the defendants and the victims. This evidence, admitted over the course of the six-day trial, revealed the existence of a prostitution conspiracy in which Hamilton, Canterbury, Williams, and Davis worked together to prostitute the minor victims, A.L., J.C., and J.C.M., in various locations on the east coast from September through November 2016. Specifically, the adults enticed the minor victims to enter, or return to, prostitution, taught the minor victims rules for prostitution, posted advertisements for prostitution dates on websites like Backpage.com, booked hotel rooms for the prostitution dates, drove the minor victims to their prostitution *815dates, and collected the money the minor victims earned through prostitution.
On January 10, 2018, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all four counts for defendants Williams and Davis. All four defendants were sentenced on various dates: Hamilton and Canterbury were ultimately sentenced to 50 months imprisonment,
II.
There is no dispute that the text of the TVPA makes restitution mandatory in this case. Specifically, the TVPA provides that "the court shall order restitution for any offense under [chapter 77 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code]."
With respect to the amount of this mandatory restitution, the TVPA makes clear that a defendant must pay his victim "the full amount of the victim's losses," which includes "the greater of the gross income or value to the defendant of the victim's services or labor or the value of the victim's labor as guaranteed under the minimum wage and overtime guarantees of the Fair Labor Standards Act."
It is worth pausing at this point to note the anomaly that results from this construction and application of the TVPA: the minor victims of sex traffickers are given the profits or proceeds of their illegal prostitution activities. It might seem more appropriate to require forfeiture of *816the prostitution profits or proceeds, rather than restoring the amount to the minor victims, and to limit restitution to sums the minor victims might require for counselling and other services to enable them to recover from their victimization by defendants. But this apparent anomaly has not prevented courts from concluding that restitution to child victims of sex trafficking must include the profits or proceeds of their illegal prostitution activities. Thus the Second Circuit has held that "the express terms of
In this case, the government has calculated the "gross income or value to the defendant[s] of the victim[s'] services or labor" to be $119,300. In support of this calculation, the government introduced at trial Backpage.com advertisements of the minor victims, which revealed that A.L. worked in prostitution for the defendants on 25 days, J.C. worked on 49 days, and J.C.M. worked on 30 days. See Trial Ex. 257. The minor victims also explained their average daily earnings from prostitution in statements to Special Agent Skelton. Specifically, A.L. explained that she earned approximately $1,000 per day, J.C. earned on average $700 per day, and J.C.M. earned on average $2,000 per day. See Doc. 163 Exs. B-D. This evidence, taken together, is sufficiently reliable and persuasive to show that the defendants' gross income from the minor victims' prostitution included (i) $25,000 ($1000 x 25 days) from A.L., $34,300 ($700 x 49 days) from J.C., and $60,000 ($2,000 x 30 days) from J.C.M.
In an attempt to dispute this restitution amount, defendants advance a number of arguments, none of which is persuasive. To begin with, defendants argue that the government's restitution calculation is based only on an "adolescent's airy estimate of past daily earnings[,]" and as such is not certain enough to justify a restitution order. Canterbury Opp. to Gov't Position on Restitution at 2. But this argument fails, as courts have made clear that the amount of restitution need not "be proven with exactitude." In re Sealed Case ,
*817Here, the minor victims' calculations of their average daily earnings, provided in statements to Special Agent Skelton, are sufficiently reliable to serve as the basis for a restituit on order because the statements were corroborated by the evidence introduced over the course of trial. For example, A.L. and J.C.M. both testified under oath that they generally charged $300 per hour with a client. See Williams Jan. 5, 2018 Tr. 145:21-22, 184:17-18. The Backpage ads, consistent with the minor victims' testimony, also showed that clients were generally charged $300 for an hour. See, e.g. , Trial Ex. 191A. And the evidence adduced at trial revealed that when Detective Wood of the Henrico County Police responded to a Backpage.com advertisement for J.C.M., Detective Wood learned that J.C.M.'s rate was $250-$300 per hour and $200 for a half hour. See Trial Ex. 22. Similarly, when Fairfax County Detective Miller testified to setting up a prostitution date with J.C., his text message conversations revealed that J.C.'s rate was $160 for a half hour. See Trial Ex. 2. With respect to the minor victims' earnings per day, J.C. testified at trial that she earned $810 on her first day of prostitution, see Williams Jan. 8, 2018 Tr. 63:1-7, Hamilton testified that she, A.L., and J.C.M. could "make a couple thousand dollars in a day," Williams Jan. 4, 2018 Tr. 126:7-14, and Canterbury testified that Williams wanted the women to make $1,000 per day and became upset if the women did not earn $1,000 per day, see
Defendant Davis next argues that the restitution amount should be calculated using the minimum wage, and not the value of the minor victims' prostitution proceeds. The statutory text of the TPVA makes clear that courts must direct defendants to pay "the greater of the gross income or value to the defendant of the victim's services or labor or the value of the victim's labor as guaranteed under the minimum wage and overtime guarantees of the Fair Labor Standards Act."
Defendants Canterbury and Hamilton also argue that because they passed most of the minor victims' prostitution proceeds to defendants Williams and Davis, defendants Canterbury and Hamilton should not be jointly and severally liable for all of the victims' losses. This argument fails because the text of the TVPA makes clear that restitution orders under the TVPA "shall be issued and enforced in accordance with section 3664 in the same manner as an order under 3663A."
III.
In sum, the TVPA requires a court to order restitution where, as here, defendants are convicted of sex-trafficking minor victims in violation of
An appropriate Restitution Order will issue.
Although the government initially requested entry of a restitution order in the amount of $144,300, it appears that one of the minor victims, A.L., has revised her estimation of her average daily earnings in prostitution. Specifically, A.L. initially estimated that she earned $2,000 per day but later advised the government that $1,000 per day was a more accurate estimate.
Hamilton was initially sentenced to 120 months imprisonment, the mandatory minimum for this offense. After Hamilton cooperated with the government and testified at trial, the government moved to reduce Hamilton's sentence pursuant to Rule 35(b)(1), Fed. R. Crim. P. The motion was granted and Hamilton's sentence was reduced to 50 months. With respect to Canterbury, the government moved at sentencing for a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 as a result of Canterbury's substantial assistance in cooperating with the government and testifying at trial. The motion was granted and Canterbury was sentenced to 50 months imprisonment.
See also United States v. Webster ,
This calculation uses an 8-hour work day and the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to calculate that defendants are responsible for a total of $6,102: $1,450 to A.L., $2,842 to J.C., and $1,710 to J.C.M.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Ivan Duane WILLIAMS
- Status
- Published