Sioux Falls Man Sentenced to 27 Years for Sex Trafficking

SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man convicted of Sex Trafficking of an Adult by Force and Coercion. The sentencing took place on June 17, 2024.

Odarie Massiah, age 34, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.

Massiah was indicted by a federal grand jury in August of 2023. He was found guilty on March 14, 2024, following a three-day court trial.

The conviction stemmed from incidents between July 1, 2020, and September 24, 2022, when Massiah recruited and forced an adult woman to engage in prostitution. Massiah used physical and emotional abuse to gain the victim’s compliance. Massiah required the woman to give him the money received from the forced prostitution. Massiah fled the state with his victim after a warrant for his arrest was issued in Minnehaha County for physically assaulting her by strangulation on two separate occasions. Massiah was apprehended in Tennessee with his victim in August of 2022.

“Odarie Massiah went to great lengths to keep this victim engaged in prostitution,” said U.S. Attorney Ramsdell. “He manipulated her; he physically abused her; and he used the money she made through prostitution to support his own lifestyle. Massiah’s conviction and subsequent sentence demonstrate our office’s commitment to seeking justice on behalf of the victims of these reprehensible crimes. We do this work alongside our local and federal partners, whose persistence in identifying and investigating sex trafficking makes our communities safer places to live.”

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Sioux Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey C. Clapper and Elizabeth A. Ebert-Webb prosecuted the case.

Massiah was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.