16-Year-Old Boy Jailed For Sex-Trafficking Of Minor

A 16-year-old East Providence boy will spend six years in prison after he pleaded no contest to charges of sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and felony assault in Family Court on Wednesday.

Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin said in a news release that Jmaire Wray was sentenced to a total of 15 years with six to serve and will begin his sentence at the Rhode Island Training School until a modification hearing to be held at a later date. During that hearing, his sentence could be modified or continued to serve at the Adult Correctional Institutions before his 19th birthday.

Wray, along with 20-year-old Reginald Chaney, also of East Providence, allegedly forced two girls between the ages of 15 and 16 to pose for racy photos that were posted to the Backpage.com site used frequently by pimps and prostitutes.

In January, Chaney and Wray forced the girls into prostitution by arranging meetings with adult men who responded to the ads for sex with the girls in Seekonk, Mass., Providence, Warwick, Charlestown and Narragansett, among other places.

East Providence police arrested both men in January.

Chaney is currently being held in Rhode Island state custody as a Superior Court probation violator on a five-year suspended sentence imposed on January 14 for a weapons charge.

In April, a federal grand jury in Providence returned a six-count indictment charging Reginald Chaney with conspiracy, sex trafficking of a child, and transportation of a minor.

“This case is a stark reminder that sex trafficking can and does happen in every community. It is truly disturbing for someone as young as the defendant to be manipulating other teens and forcing them into the commercial sex industry,” Kilmartin said. “I commend the cooperative efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement to save these young victims. That cooperation between agencies is critical to shutting down these types of operations.”

According to a criminal complaint filed in January, Chaney came to the attention of police after the 16-year-old victim went to the hospital and a rape report was filed.

During the investigation, detectives learned that Chaney used a taser on the victims the night the girls were photographed in their underwear and “continually threatened to use the taser [on one of the victims] if she refused to do anything.”

Chaney reportedly collected anywhere from $60 to $250 for each sexual act he organized between the Johns using backpage.com and the underage girls.

In another instance, according to the complaint, a John in Charlestown “declared they appeared too young and asked them to leave,” giving the victim $60 for gas.

In another, one of the victims, after a night at the motel in Seekonk, was led to a car where another John was waiting in the back seat. When she refused to have sex, he reportedly held her arms against her side and raped her.

The John then paid Chaney the money and the victim told police that she believed the rape was brutal lesson planned by Chaney “in retribution for her unwillingness to perform sexual intercourse with his clients.”

“The common thread among all our human trafficking cases is Backpage.com, the favored site for human traffickers. Backpage.com can no longer claim ignorance of the illegal activity that is conducted through their website while making a profit off the selling of people for sex,” Kilmartin said.

East Providence Police Detective Michael Field, Providence Police Detective Koren Garcia and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jodie Dinghy led the investigation. Special Assistant Attorney General Arthur DeFelice prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General. The case against Reginald Chaney is being prosecuted jointly in federal court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela E. Chin and Assistant Rhode Island Attorney General Daniel Carr Guglielmo.