California Man Sentenced on Sex and Drug Trafficking Charges

BISMARCK – United States Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on April 18, 2018, Chief United States District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland sentenced Montay Maurice Knight, a/k/a Fresh, age 35, of Indio, CA, to 6 years and 7 months in a federal prison, to be followed by five years supervised release, on charges of Transportation for Illegal Sexual Activity and Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance.  Knight was further ordered to pay $200 in special assessments to the Crime Victims’ Fund.

            This case came to the attention of law enforcement on March 4, 2017, when the Bismarck Police Department responded to the My Place hotel when, an adult female, called 911 and reported that her boyfriend, Montay Knight, had hit, choked and threatened to kill her.  The victim said that approximately three months into her relationship with Knight, Knight began asking her for money that she earned by engaging in commercial sex acts after she met him.  The victim further stated she had been “working” for Knight in California by engaging in commercial sex acts.  All the money she earned from the commercial sex acts went to Knight.  The victim reported there had been previous assaultive behavior by Knight.  The victim said Knight traveled to North Dakota about four (4) or five (5) weeks before the beginning of March 2017, for the purpose of selling drugs.  Knight then directed her to put an advertisement on Backpage.com for Bismarck, ND, to see what type of response the advertisement would receive.  Because of the number of responses to the victim’s Backpage.com advertisement, Knight instructed the victim to come to Bismarck, ND.

           Upon arrival to North Dakota in February 2017, the victim engaged in commercial sex acts and turned over all her earnings to Knight.  Knight was arrested for aggravated assault and during the search of Knight, incident to his arrest, Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000) in cash was found and seized. 

           This case was investigated by the Bismarck Police Department, Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

           Special Assistant United States Attorney Dawn M. Deitz prosecuted the case.