FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, June 9, 2022

South Carolina Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison For Federal Sex Trafficking Charges

Defendant Sexually Exploited Minor Girl in Northwest Washington

            WASHINGTON – Rodregiz Antwon Cole, 37, of Manning, South Carolina, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for sex trafficking a minor in Washington, D.C. in April 2019 while on sex offender registration status.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division, and Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Cole pleaded guilty on May 20, 2021, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to one count of sex trafficking of a minor and one count of commission of a crime against a minor victim while on sex offender registration status. He was sentenced by the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. Following completion of his prison term, Cole will be placed on a lifetime of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, the minor victim first encountered Cole in April 2019 through an online sexual solicitation advertisement on “skipthegames.com” when she was 17 years old and pregnant. When she told Cole that she was only 17 years old, he initially said he did not want her to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit due to her age, but then changed his mind. Cole drove the minor victim, along with two other adult females who were working in his commercial sex enterprise, to the “Track” in Washington, D.C. There, he had the minor victim engage in at least six commercial sex “dates” and took all of the proceeds from her.

            Cole was arrested on April 5, 2019 following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. When Cole was arrested, he was in possession of the cash earned by the minor victim and the other women working for him along with two cellular phones with communications about his commercial sex enterprise. He has remained in custody since his arrest. At the time of these offenses, Cole was required to register as a sex offender because of a prior conviction in 2018 in South Carolina.   

            This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jacobs, and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI and MPD. They also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Justice Department, including Victim/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant.

            Finally, they commended the work of Trial Attorney Elizabeth Hutson of the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.