Registered Sex Offender In Camden Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Children

CAMDEN, NJ — A registered sex offender from Camden was sentenced to prison Thursday for trafficking three children.

Semaj A. Gilmore, 34, was sentenced to 21 years, 8 months behind bars.

Gilmore transported the victims on several occasions from Philadelphia to New Jersey and forced them to engage in commercial sex acts, according to federal prosecutors.

His offenses spanned from September 2020 to April 2021, when investigators learned that a missing child from Pennsylvania was being advertised for prostitution. An undercover agent contacted the phone number on the ad, which was later revealed to be Gilmore's.

The undercover agent met Gilmore in a motel room in Mount Laurel. Gilmore instructed the agent to "get condoms" and confirm he wasn't "a cop," according to prosecutors.

Uniformed officers stopped Gilmore's vehicle outside the motel and arrested him.

During this time, Gilmore was a registered sex offender. He was convicted of criminal sexual contact with a minor in 2017, according to the state registry.

Gilmore's new prison sentence comes months after he pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of sex trafficking minors. Following the prison term, he'll undergo a decade of supervised release.