PORTLAND, Ore. – A man convicted for human trafficking in Multnomah County has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.
Moncello L. James, 32, was found guilty of five counts of compelling prostitution and 15 counts of promoting prostitution on January 26, 2018. A judge on Friday sentenced James to 210 months in prison.
"It should be understood that this is not a victimless crime. The victim was forced into doing this," said Sgt. Chris Burley, spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau. "He was using other forms of intimidation to cause this person to live every day in fear and which in turn forced her to go out and have to do these acts that she didn't want to do but didn't feel she was going to be safe if she didn't."
Detectives began investigating James in May of 2017 after police officers contacted a victim he had forced into prostitution. At that time, James was in the Multnomah County Jail for an unrelated parole violation.
Detectives learned that James not only forced the victim into prostitution before he was jailed on April 3, 2017, but he continued to do it from inside the jail.
"Just because somebody's in jail, doesn't mean an investigation is going to stop or begin. This is a good example of somebody who continued to participate in criminal activity even though he was behind bars," Burley said.
James has previous convictions for pimping and pandering in California, according to Portland police.