64°
Amin Sharif, 48, of Newark had been free for a year after serving nearly a decade in federal prison when he returned to pimping women and girls, authorities said.
Federal agents seized Sharif on sex trafficking charges in January 2022, and have held him since then, while continuing an ongoing investigation that produced an indictment that cites the additional victims.
Sharif "used several social media platforms and profiles to recruit women and minors to engage in sex acts for money" in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. "Once in contact with his victims, Sharif used threats to coerce the victims into engaging in commercial sex acts."
He moved them across state lines -- flying one of them on a commercial airline -- and even advertised the sex service online, the U.S. attorney said.Formerly of East Orange, Sharif went to federal prison in 2010 after investigators caught him trafficking underage girls and women, records show. He recruited some of them from out of state on MySpace and other social media platforms, then advertised their services on Craigslist.
Sharif spent nearly 120 months in federal prison as a result before being released on Jan. 30, 2020.
It took less than a year for him to be arrested again.
The indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Newark charges Sharif with transporting and attempting to traffic victims for prostitution, sex trafficking a minor, using an interstate facility to promote unlawful activity and persuading a victim to travel to engage in prostitution.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI in Newark and Philadelphia with the investigation leading to the indictment, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Farhana C. Melo of his Criminal Division in Newark.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bethlehem and receive free news updates.
