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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, May 12, 2008 Everett man accused of running sex ring faces trial today By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer EVERETT -- An Everett man accused of running an Internet-based prostitution ring in part to avoid paying child support to his 18 children is expected to face a federal jury today . Jerome Todd, 29, is charged with numerous sex-for-sale crimes, including sex trafficking and interstate travel to further prostitution. If convicted, he could face decades behind bars. Prosecutors allege that Todd befriended and recruited at least four women and then used violence and intimidation to force them to engage in prostitution. Todd allegedly advertised the women on Craigslist.org, rented motel rooms for them to work in and forced the women to hand over money they made. Police estimated that Todd may have earned up to $300,000 over two years. Todd told the women he needed them to earn money for him because he didn't want to work or pay child support to the mothers of his numerous children, according records filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Todd owes at least $70,000 to at least seven different women for his kids, according to Snohomish County Superior Court records. Any payments Todd made in recent years likely came from the women who worked for him, police said. One woman told detectives Todd stashed cash in boxes at home because he was afraid if he used a bank, the state would seize the money to pay off back child support, according to court records. Everett detectives first began investigating Todd in March 2007 after a woman reported seeing her daughter's picture on Craigslist and an advertisement that she was selling sex. The mother also told detectives Todd assaulted her daughter and refused to let her see family. Just a couple months later, another mother called Everett police to report that her daughter was being held against her will and working as a prostitute for Todd. Investigators spoke with both women, who reported that Todd recruited them to be prostitutes and imposed strict rules. He bought them lingerie and gave them cell phones to call him when clients arrived and after they were done, according to court records. The women told investigators he prohibited them from having any contact with their family or friends and threatened to harm them if they broke the rules. Both woman also reported that Todd assaulted them and threatened to hurt them if they left. Another woman told police that Todd told her she was nothing and insisted that she was his property and she'd regret not working for him, according to court papers. Federal sex trafficking statutes are fairly new and are aimed at those people who use violence and threats to engage in prostitution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ye-Ting Woo said. "The government sees it as having aspects of modern-day slavery," she said. "It's not uncommon for women to be engaged in intimate relationships with the defendants and groomed in a sense to work for them. If they refuse, they are assaulted or threatened." Todd was arrested in 2007 after police searched two apartments where he was known to stay. He was on probation for bank fraud in the 1990s. His probation officer reported that Todd didn't have any employment history but often arrived at the probation office in a lavish vehicle driven by different women. He always seemed to have money on him, according to the probation officer. The officer found a picture of Todd along with the caption "pimpin' all over the world" on his MySpace account.

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