Miami, Florida – Four defendants were sentenced in connection with their roles in trafficking a 13-year-old minor victim through the use of online advertisements. The sentences ranged from 16 to 10 years of imprisonment, 15 to 10 years of supervised release, plus restitution and a life-time of registration as a sexual offender.
From approximately May 29, 2019, to June 4, 2019, Jeremiah Horenstein, 24, Racquel Lavette Bijou, 22, and Ashton Gary Lewinson, 26, “took the minor victim to engage in at least 100 commercial sex acts” at hotels and private residences throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, officials said.
On June 5, 2019, Bijou recruited the minor victim to work for Souprina Blanc, 29, who further posted online advertisements for minor victim to engage in commercial sex acts.
From NBC 6 South Florida: The teenager told investigators she had ran away from home in May of this year because she was bored, according to a criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Soon after running away, the teenager says she met a woman by the name of Suprah, later identified as Souprina Blanc by law enforcement. Suprah would prostitute the 13-year-old twice, including one time with a man in his 50s.
Later, the teenager met a woman named Racquel Lavette Bijou, who asked the minor if she wanted to make money. The victim assumed she would make money by helping Bijou with her tattoo work, but found out Bijou wanted the victim to prostitute herself, according to the complaint.
The teen told investigators she engaged with sex as directed because she had no money and nowhere to go.
One night in June, Bijou told the teen to take pictures of herself for potential clients. The photos were allegedly sent to Jeremiah Horenstein and posted on websites that advertise sex work.
Days after running away from home, the teenager reached out to family members – telling them she had sex with “so many people,” the complaint says. The girl’s relatives handed her phone records to police, who were able to determine she was in contact with the number listed on those websites.
Each defendant previously pled guilty to sex trafficking of a minor. U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, who sits in Ft. Lauderdale, imposed the sentences.
