Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that COREY ROPER was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for sex trafficking of minor females. ROPER was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, before whom he previously pled guilty to one count of sex trafficking minor victims. As part of his plea, ROPER acknowledged that he trafficked three minor females, and also trafficked another female by force.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman stated: “Self-proclaimed pimp, Corey Roper, perpetrated awful acts against young women. Roper subjected his victims – some as young as 13 years old – to what he called ‘pimp rules,’ and punished them through cruel physical violence and depriving them of food and sleep if they didn’t comply with his abhorrent commands. Because of his unconscionable conduct against these vulnerable victims, Roper now ironically finds himself subject to a code of conduct that he’s forced to comply with – prison rules.”
According to the Indictment and other court documents filed in Manhattan federal court:
The defendants were members of or affiliated with the Snow Gang, a gang based in Queens, New York, which was engaged in a myriad of criminal activities, including violence, drug trafficking, credit card fraud, and sex trafficking of young women. Between February 2015 and March 2017, the defendants worked together to traffic minor female victims, using methods of force, fraud, and coercion. Members of this conspiracy used brutal violence to capture and control their victims, and used firearms to protect their illegal sex trafficking business.
ROPER was a violent pimp who controlled his victims through force and intimidation. ROPER’s victims included minor females as young as 13 years old, who were subjected to ROPER’s code of “pimp rules,” that, for example, prohibited his victims from speaking to other men, from keeping any money they earned, and from eating if they did not make ROPER enough money. If any of the rules were broken, ROPER punished his victims through violence, including choking, hitting, punching, and kicking his victims. One victim—identified in court documents as “Minor Victim-4”—was regularly abused by ROPER, including being beaten with a cord, being forced to kneel on uncooked rice for hours as a form of punishment, and being held in a windowless room in Brooklyn where she was physically abused by ROPER and forced to have sex with customers of his choosing. Another victim—identified in court documents as “Victim-1”—was beaten by ROPER when she initially refused to work for him. ROPER responded by slapping her, refusing to let her leave, and denying her food. When Victim-1 angered Roper by disobeying him, he disciplined her, including by making her stand in the corner of a room for hours and depriving her of food and sleep.
In addition to his prison sentence, ROPER, 27, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
ROPER is the seventh defendant to be sentenced in this case by Judge Buchwald for his participation in sex trafficking minors. The other defendants in this case—David Hightower, Nashean Folds, Antwone Washington, Terrell Clarke, Tremain Moore, and Gregory Luck—pled guilty to and have been sentenced in connection with various offenses, including participating in a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding work of the New York City Police Department’s Human Trafficking Team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also thanked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the Nassau County Police Department, and the Edison New Jersey Police Department for their support and cooperation in this case.
