Massachusetts man sentenced to 15 years for sex trafficking

BOSTON — A Boston man was sentenced Friday in federal court for his role in a long-running sex trafficking conspiracy that spanned 14 states. 

This sentence resulted from an extensive investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the cooperation and assistance of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine, the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, the Maine police departments of Portland, Old Town, Braintree, and South Portland, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Suffolk County (Massachusetts) District Attorney’s Office, the Cumberland County (Maine) District Attorney’s Office and the Cumberland County (Maine) Sheriff’s Office. 

Corey Norris aka “Case,” or “Jacorey Johnson,” 26, of the historic Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release. 

In September 2015, Norris pleaded guilty to one count each of:

• conspiracy to sex traffic minors by force, fraud and coercion;
• sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking of a minor;
• sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion;
• transportation of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity; and
• conspiracy to transport a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.  

Norris’s conspiracy charge was based on his long relationship with co-defendant Raymond Jeffreys, 27, of both Boston and Portland, Maine.  Norris, Jeffreys, and others engaged in a long-running cross-country sex trafficking conspiracy from approximately August 2008 to May 2014 in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Nevada, Georgia, Florida, and California. 

Norris was charged for both his involvement in the conspiracy, and for specific counts involving the sex trafficking of two 17-year-old girls.  One of the girls was trafficked in the fall of 2011 in Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, and California.  The other girl was trafficked in Massachusetts and Rhode Island the following year.  

During today’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper described Norris’s crimes as “horrific,” noting that the victims were “targeted specifically because of their vulnerability.”  Judge Casper also noted that the fact that “prostitution still finds paying customers” did not change the fact that the women who engaged in the sex acts were actual victims.