Two Charged With Sex Trafficking Of Minors

BOSTON – In an indictment unsealed today, two Boston men have been charged in the U.S. District Court with the sex trafficking of minors.

Miriam Kizzie, also known as “Keys” and “Keyshawn,” 21, was charged with sex trafficking of minors and transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Anthony Pledger, also known as “Polo,” “Polo B.” and “Jaden,” 26, was charged in the same indictment with sex trafficking of minors and transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

According to the indictment, in October 2013, Kizzie and Pledger conspired with each other to sex traffic two minors and to transport them between Massachusetts and Rhode Island with intent that they engage in prostitution. Kizzie and Pledger are also charged with aiding and abetting each other in sex trafficking the two minors and in actually transporting them between Massachusetts and Rhode Island with intent that they engage in prostitution.

Further, according to the indictment, in July 2013, Kizzie trafficked two other minors.

Pledger had been previously charged, first in state court and then by complaint in U.S. District Court, based on the incidents that occurred in October 2013. Pledger and Kizzie will be arraigned together on the indictment on Feb. 27, 2014.

If convicted, Kizzie and Pledger face minimum mandatory sentences of 15 years on the sex trafficking charges and 10 years on the transportation charges. They face maximum sentences of a lifetime in prison.

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans made the announcement today. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to thank the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, Rhode Island State Police, Brookline Police Department, Brockton Police Department and Providence Police Department for providing assistance in this case.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Harman Burkart and Timothy E. Moran of Ortiz’s Civil Rights Enforcement Team.

Members of the public who have questions, concerns or information regarding this case should call 617-748-3274, and messages will be promptly returned.

The details contained in the charges are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The aggressive enforcement of federal civil rights laws is a top priority of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Since U.S. Attorney Ortiz created the Civil Rights Enforcement Team (CRET) in 2010, the Office has substantially increased its focus on civil and criminal civil rights enforcement. In the last two years, the office has charged multiple defendants with sex trafficking and other criminal civil rights violations.