United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald announced the sentencing of Andre Mathis, Jr., a/k/a Isaac Brown, 33, Amos Kiprop Koech, 44, for sex trafficking a 15-year-old minor. Mathis, who pleaded guilty on January 10, 2019, was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Koech, who was convicted by a federal jury on January 22, 2019, was sentenced to almost 11 years in prison. Both defendants were sentenced yesterday before Senior Judge Donovan W. Frank in U.S. District Court in Duluth, Minnesota.
“The significant prison sentences handed down are a just punishment for the heinous crimes these individuals committed against a vulnerable young girl,” said U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald. “This is a sad, but very real, example of how child sex trafficking can occur in any city or community. My office, the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office, and our law enforcement partners are committed to rooting out this type of predatory conduct.”
According to evidence presented at trial and admissions made as part of Mathis’ guilty plea, from June 17 through July 7, 2017, Mathis recruited and solicited a 15-year-old minor to engage in commercial sex. Mathis physically and sexually abused the minor, he provided her with street drugs and alcohol, told her how she could make money in exchange for sex, and promised her clothes and a better life. MATHIS took sexually suggestive photographs of the minor, which he used to attract prospective commercial sex buyers. Mathis also monitored the minor’s communication with her parents and instructed her to tell them that everything was fine.
According to evidence presented at trial and admissions made as part of MATHIS’s guilty plea, Mathis sold the minor to Koech on one or more occasions. As part of the conspiracy to traffic the minor, Mathis and Koech negotiated with each other regarding the amount Mathis would charge for a commercial sex act with the minor. The trafficking ended when law enforcement found the minor hidden in a bedroom closet while Mathis was also present in the apartment.
The Duluth News Tribune reported: The victim told police Mathis sexually assaulted her multiple times each day over the course of her captivity and that she was unable to resist due to her fear of him. She said Mathis told her he was “training” or “teaching” her how to perform the sexual acts.
The victim reported that Mathis would regularly beat her. On one occasion he burned her hand with a cigarette. Eventually, he obtained a Taser, which he would use on her for his own amusement. Additionally, she said Mathis made her dye her hair in an attempt to look older and forced her to ingest narcotics in order to keep her calmer for commercial sex acts.
The victim told the court Monday that the men treated her “like I’m a product.”
“You used me,” she said at Koech’s sentencing. “You made me have to grow up before I was ready. You stole my childhood from me. You are nothing to me.”
Mathis was also charged in St. Louis County with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which he pleaded guilty to as part of the global plea agreement filed with the U.S. District Court.
