Former Baltimore City Police Officer Sentenced for Prostitution Business

The following information is provided by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland regarding sentencing of a former Baltimore police officer for prostitution involvement.

Former Baltimore Police officer Lamin Manneh, age 33, of Baltimore, was sentenced Thursday to 21 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for traveling across state lines and using the telephone and internet to operate a prostitution business.

U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. imposed the sentence.

According to Manneh’s indictment and information presented at court hearings, from February to May 9, 2013, Manneh operated a prostitution business with over 300 customers.

Manneh’s 19-year-old wife and another 19-year-old woman worked as prostitutes for Manneh. The government alleges that as part of his business, Manneh wrote, paid for and posted more than 50 prostitution ads for the two women on internet websites; rented an apartment and hotel rooms for clients; and drove the women to residences and hotel rooms specified by clients.

According to information presented at the plea hearing, Manneh provided the women with cell phones and taught them to use “voice over internet” phone services to communicate with prospective clients and with one another. Manneh waited outside the prostitution locations and sent the women electronic messages when they were with clients. Manneh carried his police-issued firearm and agreed to forcibly interrupt a sex interaction if the client was aggressive or non-compliant. He supplied both women with synthetic marijuana.

Manneh collected all of his wife’s prostitution earnings and a percentage of the other woman’s prostitution earnings.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne C. Leitess.

The case was investigated by the FBI-led Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force (MCETF), created in 2010 to combat child prostitution, with members from 10 state and federal law enforcement agencies. The Task Force coordinates with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Maryland State Police Child Recovery Unit to identify missing children being advertised online for prostitution. MCETF partners with the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members.

For more information about the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/priorities_human.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Maryland State Police and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and recognized the Baltimore Police Department for its assistance. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark W. Crooks, who prosecuted the case.

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