Human Trafficking
A Silver Spring man arrested last fall at a motel in Laurel pleaded guilty to one count of human trafficking in Howard County Circuit Court on Tuesday. Kevin Oswald Joseph, 37 of Marblehedge Way was sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years suspended.
Detectives received a tip that an advertisement on the website Backpage, known for prostitution ads, was offering sexual services with a woman at a motel in the 9700 block of Washington Blvd. Last month, the FBI and additional federal law enforcement agencies seized the sex marketplace website and shut it down. Police responded to the hotel on November 9, 2017 and made contact with two victims, both adult females, who disclosed that Joseph had transported them to Pennsylvania and New York to engage in prostitution during the past month.
Joseph was arrested shortly after returning to the hotel that evening. The cell phone used to place the ad, along with $4,565 in cash were discovered in his possession. The women victims were offered support services.
Judge Timothy J. McCrone sentenced Joseph to 10 years in prison, suspending all but five years. Upon his release, Joseph will be on supervised probation for five years, during which he was ordered not to return to any of the hotels or motels on Washington Blvd. in Howard County.
Drug Trafficking
A 23-year-old Baltimore man pleaded guilty this morning to possession of a large amount of heroin discovered during a routine traffic stop in Ellicott City last September. David Jackson, of the 4400 block of Maple Shade Drive, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled dangerous substance before Howard County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McCrone.
According to prosecutors, Howard County police stopped Jackson’s vehicle shortly before midnight on September 7 after observing it being operated in a manner suggesting that the driver was impaired. Back-up units arrived on the scene, including a K-9 which alerted police to the presence of drugs in the vehicle.
A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of a digital scale with a powder residue from under the front passenger seat, $650 cash from the sunglass compartment, a bag of suspected heroin hidden in the dashboard behind the glove compartment, and numerous cell phones and a pair of Maryland license plates.
A search of Jackson revealed $480 in his left pants pocket and $6,169 in his right pocket. Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Ritter stated that subsequent testing by the Maryland State Police crime lab revealed that the suspect drug was 98.98 grams of heroin.
Judge McCrone set a sentencing date of August 24 and ordered a pre-sentence investigation of Jackson. Ritter indicated that she will seek a flat sentence of 10 years in prison. Jackson remains free on bond.