Two Delaware residents charged with sex trafficking of minors

Dkyle Jamal Bridges, 32, and Kristian Jones, 24, both of Claymont, Delaware, have been charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking of minors in an indictment unsealed May 11, announced United States Attorney William M. McSwain.

Specifically, the defendants are charged with conspiracy to engage in forcible sex trafficking of minors, two counts of forcible sex trafficking, and three counts of forcible sex trafficking of minors. According to the indictment, Bridges and Jones committed the various sex trafficking offenses between 2012 and 2017.

“The indictment alleges that the defendants and their associates operated a violent sex-trafficking enterprise in which women and several minor children were sold for commercial sex,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “Stopping human exploitation, and particularly child exploitation, is a priority for the Department of Justice, and we are working very hard with our law enforcement partners to find and prosecute all such offenders. In this case, we worked with the FBI and local police in both Pennsylvania and Delaware. That’s what it’s going to take to stop the unconscionable exploitation of these young victims.”

If convicted as charged, each defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 1life imprisonment, a mandatory minimum term of fifteen years’ imprisonment, supervised release for a minimum term of five years and a lifetime maximum term, a $1,500,000 dollar fine, mandatory restitution, and a maximum $30,600 special assessment.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Tinicum Township Police Department, and the Newark (DE) Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Schlessinger.