A Florida bail bondsman allegedly targeted incarcerated female inmates and offered them bond in exchange for sex, the state's attorney general said.
Russell Bruce Moncrief was charged with human trafficking and racketeering after prosecutors alleged that he used his position to prey on women being held on prostitution and drug charges, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office said in a news release. Some of the inmates were being held at Orange County jail.
Moncrief, the owner of Moncrief Bail Bonds in multiple Florida counties, allegedly offered to bond out the women "in exchange for sex." He also offered to bail out inmates "in exchange for sex from someone outside of jail" and allegedly sold women he bonded out to other buyers, Moody's office said.
Prosecutors accused him of using threats of revoking, pulling or violating their bonds as a form of force, fraud or coercion.
"After bailing his victims out of jail, he continued to use his power over them to sell the women for sex to others for his own financial gain," Moody said in a statement, calling it a "sickening scheme."
Authorities learned of Moncrief's scheme while investigating former defense attorney John Gillespie for committing similar crimes, the attorney general said. Victims of Gillespie told investigators they had also been forced to perform sex acts with Moncrief, the office said.
He faces up to 125 years of jail time. Attorney information was not listed for him in online court records.