CRIME

Chambersburg man sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for sex trafficking of minors

Amber South
Chambersburg Public Opinion

HARRISBURG - A Chambersburg man was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison for his role in a sex-trafficking ring spanning six states and Washington D.C. 

Keanu Davone Martinez, 22, received his sentence Thursday, Nov. 1, from Chief U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He pleaded guilty last December to transporting a minor for the purposes of committing commercial sex acts.

Martinez and several co-conspirators recruited and transported victims of sex trafficking, girls between the ages of 14 and 24 years old, to engage in commercial sex acts in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Rhode Island, New York and the District of Columbia, according to United States Attorney David J. Freed.

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Martinez and the others rented hotel rooms and posted advertisements and photographs of their victims on backpage.com from July 2012 through January 2015.

He and the others would keep most of the money made through the prostitution business. They gave drugs to the victims, including including oxycodone, cocaine and heroin.   

Martinez and four other men - three of them from Chambersburg - carried out the prostitution ring: 

  • Anthony "Tony" D'Ambrosio, 36, and Armando Delgado, 22, both of Chambersburg, were convicted in December of various sex trafficking and drug trafficking offenses. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Both men have been in custody since the guilty verdicts. 
  • Albert E. “Pipo” Martinez, 36, of Chambersburg pleaded guilty on March 31, 2016, to all charges, which included sex trafficking of children. He was sentenced this March to 15 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. 
  • Brandon Hill, age 30, of Harrisburg also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking counts and received a 37-month sentence.  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Meredith A. Taylor prosecuted the case. 

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This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education click on the tab "resources."

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