Virginia Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sex Trafficking

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Defendant Coerced and Sexually Exploited Three Women in Northwest Washington

            WASHINGTON – Michael Jabaar Wilkins, 39, of Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for a federal sex trafficking conviction stemming from his sexual exploitation of three women, announced United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered 10 years of supervised release.

            Wilkins pleaded guilty on July 21, 2021, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to a charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.

            According to the government’s evidence, between 2011 and 2019, Wilkins separately induced and coerced women to travel from Virginia to the District of Columbia to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial benefit. He took sexually explicit photographs of these women that he used in online advertisements for commercial sex. The activities took place in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Northwest Washington. According to the evidence, Wilkins repeatedly physically assaulted two of the women, knocking one of them unconscious in one instance, and causing a severe injury to the woman’s eye.  One of these assaults was captured on a home security camera.  Wilkins also used verbal abuse, threats to harm, and emotional manipulation in order to entice and coerce these women into commercial sex work for his financial gain. and

            Wilkins was arrested on Nov. 5, 2019, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents and local, state, and federal partners. He has been detained ever since. He pleaded guilty less than a week before his trial was scheduled to begin.

            In announcing the plea, 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 acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Alexis Spencer-Anderson, Victim Witness Program Specialist Yvonne Bryant, Victim Witness Service Coordinator Tonya Jones, and Witness Security Specialist Lesley Slade. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Larson and Trial Attorney Jessica Arco, from the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit of the Department of Justice, who investigated and prosecuted the case.