A New York man who is accused, among other crimes, of kidnapping a woman at a Silver Spring hotel and forcing her to work for him as a prostitute, was indicted on multiple charges Wednesday.

Continue reading

A federal grand jury indicted 31-year-old Jeremy Naughton, who also goes by "Jerms Black," on charges including sex trafficking, kidnapping and gun crimes. Prosecutors allege Naughton has been intimidating women into working for him since 2008.

According to the indictment, which totals 11 counts, Naughton is accused of finding women who advertised prostitution services online and meeting them in hotel rooms. He'd then allegedly threaten the women with a gun or physical violence in addition to stealing their personal belongings.

One such instance allegedly happened in a hotel in Silver Spring in February of 2008. In that case, prosecutors say Naughton threatened the woman with a gun, then forced her to travel with him to Brooklyn, N.Y. where he detained her. He's also accused of snapping the neck of a prostitute's dog to intimidate her, along with forcing another one to perform a sexual act on him in September of 2010.

Naughton faces life in prison on the kidnapping charge alone, a minimum of 15 years for each count of sex trafficking and 10 years for each count of transporting a person to engage in prostitution.