Camden Man Charged with Sex Trafficking of a Minor

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Camden man is scheduled to make his initial appearance today on a sex trafficking charge, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Semaj A. Gilmore, 31, is charged by complaint with one count of sex trafficking of a minor. He is scheduled to appear by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen M. Williams this afternoon.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In April 2021, investigators learned that a missing juvenile from Pennsylvania was being advertised for sexually illicit activities on a website that is often used to advertise acts of prostitution. On April 13, 2021, an undercover agent contacted a phone number associated with the advertisement. The undercover agent and the user of the phone number, later revealed to be Gilmore, exchanged a series of messages that ultimately led to the undercover agent meeting the victim in a motel room in or around Mount Laurel, New Jersey, purportedly to engage in sexual activities in exchange for cash. Among other messages, Gilmore instructed the undercover agent to “get condoms” and to confirm that he was not “a cop.” When uniformed officers entered the motel room, Gilmore, who had been waiting in a car in the adjacent parking lot, fled the scene.  Officers stopped Gilmore’s car and recovered the phone used to arrange the meeting between the victim and the undercover agent. 

The count of sex trafficking of a minor carries a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the FBI, Philadelphia Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Driscoll, with the investigation leading to the charge. She also thanked members of the Mount Laurel Police Department, under the direction of Chief Steve Riedener, and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Scott A. Coffina, for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.