Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo and Cherry Hill Police Chief William Monaghan reported a Trenton man convicted of human trafficking and promoting prostitution in Cherry Hill has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison.
Brian Moore, 47, will be required to serve his entire 20-year sentence without parole. He was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine. The sentence was imposed by Superior Court Judge Gwendolyn Blue on Wednesday, December 21, 2016.
In October a jury found Moore guilty of five counts of first-degree Human Trafficking and six counts of third-degree Promoting Prostitution.
Moore was arrested in March 2014 by the Special Investigations Unit of the Cherry Hill Police Department during an undercover operation targeting prostitution after he was observed dropping off a woman at a local hotel and then returning to pick her up. That woman solicited an undercover detective and was arrested. The investigation was turned over to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit. Further investigation revealed that Moore was forcing women to engage in acts of prostitution by using and threatening violence and by helping the women get illegal narcotics.
With the cooperation of the first woman, detectives were able to identify two additional victims of human trafficking. Moore was housing the women at a local Cherry Hill motel, keeping them there for several months and transporting them into Camden to purchase illegal narcotics each day.
A fourth victim came forward after the story of Moore’s March 2014 arrest was reported in the media.
At the trial, Assistant Prosecutor Nevan Soumilas presented evidence, including the testimony of all four victims, which proved that Moore not only promoted prostitution but also trafficked these victims. Each victim testified that Moore recruited them from Camden, New Jersey and took photos of them in revealing lingerie which he posted on websites such as Backpage.com. Moore also drove the women to hotels throughout the Southern New Jersey area to engage in prostitution. The victims also testified that at Moore’s direction, they each engage in various sex acts in exchange for money several times each day, and provided Moore with thousands of dollars in cash each week.
The State also presented evidence that Moore lived a rather lavish lifestyle with the proceeds of this operation. He had several bank accounts, various forms of electronic equipment and access to two vehicles which he used to run the operation.
The State argued to the jury that Moore used the women’s addiction to illegal narcotics as a tool to keep them working.