A Florida man was sentenced Monday in Tucson federal court to 15 years in prison for forcing a woman into prostitution in the Tampa area and in Tucson in 2016.
Travon Jarvel Jackson, 37, was convicted of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and interstate transportation for prostitution.
Jackson posted advertisements for the woman on adult websites and kept all the money the woman made from prostitution, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Jackson controlled the victim by withholding food, money and her property. He also physically assaulted her to gain her compliance, according to the news release.
Prosecutors said in court documents that Jackson would make the woman perform acts of prostitution daily from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. the following morning at hotels in the Tampa area. Most times, Jackson would wait in his car in a hotel's parking lot while the victim worked inside a room. The woman suffered serious injuries when one of her clients attempted to rob her and she had to jump out of a second story window, court documents said.
In July 2016, Jackson made the woman travel to Tucson against her will, where he continued to force her to commits acts of prostitution while he kept the profits, according to prosecutors.
The victim escaped Jackson by contacting a human trafficking victim rescue program, which she had seen advertised on a billboard, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
