Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that WILLIAM BAZEMORE, a/k/a “Yaya,” a/k/a “Nudie,” a/k/a “Jack,” was sentenced to 327 months in prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion. BAZEMORE previously pled guilty to that offense, and was sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “William Bazemore used violence and coercion to prey on female victims suffering from drug addiction, and he forced a woman to engage in commercial sex for his own financial gain. His predatory conduct had an irreparable impact on the lives of his victims. Today, William Bazemore was justly sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for his crimes.”
According to the Indictment, as well as statements made during BAZEMORE’s plea and sentencing proceedings:
In or about 2017, BAZEMORE was the leader of a criminal enterprise (the “Organization”) involved in various criminal acts, including drug distribution and sex trafficking, in and around New York City, Maine, and Connecticut. Members and associates of the Organization, including BAZEMORE and codefendant Warren Bryant, transported heroin and crack cocaine between New York, Connecticut, and Maine, at times using women suffering from drug addiction as drug couriers to secrete drugs on their persons and transport drugs and drug proceeds in vehicles controlled by the Organization, and to trade sex for access to drugs. In addition, BAZEMORE and other members and associates of the Organization used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause a female drug customer (“Victim-1”) to engage in commercial sex for their financial gain, and took actions to prevent Victim-1 and others from cooperating with law enforcement against the Organization.
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In addition to today’s prison sentence, BAZEMORE, 41, of New York, New York, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Codefendant Warren Bryant was sentenced by Judge Torres on September 22, 2020, to 125 months in prison for participating in a racketeering conspiracy and a narcotics conspiracy related to the same scheme.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI-NYPD New York Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, and the Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Jacqueline Kelly and Danielle Sassoon are in charge of the prosecution.
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