Luzerne County Woman Sentenced To Prison For Transporting A Person In Interstate Commerce To Engage In Prostitution

     The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Bear Creek woman was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani to 16 months in federal prison today for her role in helping to transport a female from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to engage in prostitution.

     According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Kyoni Humphrey a/k/a “Kyoni Nieves,” age 25, previously pleaded guilty to helping a co-defendant, Travis Humphrey, commit the crime by renting and driving a vehicle used to transport the female to motels in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to engage in prostitution, renting motel rooms, and posting “escort” advertisements and photographs on a website during May 2013.

     Humphrey was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2014, as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office.

     Co-defendant Travis Humphrey previously pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor and is awaiting sentencing.

     This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

     The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.