Sioux Falls man gets 27 years in federal prison for sex trafficking
A Sioux Falls man has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in federal prison, after being convicted of sex trafficking of an adult by force and coercion.
Odarie Massia, 34, was sentenced Monday, according to a press release Tuesday from the United States Attorney’s office - District of South Dakota. His sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund of $100. He was convicted in March, following a three-day trial.
“Odarie Massiah went to great lengths to keep this victim engaged in prostitution,” stated U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell in the release. “He manipulated her; he physically abused her; and he used the money she made through prostitution to support his own lifestyle. Massiah’s conviction and subsequent sentence demonstrate our office’s commitment to seeking justice on behalf of the victims of these reprehensible crimes. We do this work alongside our local and federal partners, whose persistence in identifying and investigating sex trafficking makes our communities safer places to live.”
The incidents occured between July 1, 2020, and Sept. 24, 2022, according to the release. That’s when Massiah recruited the victim and forced her to engage in prostitution.
“Massiah used physical and emotional abuse to gain the victim’s compliance,” the release states. “Massiah required the woman to give him the money received from the forced prostitution. Massiah fled the state with his victim after a warrant for his arrest was issued in Minnehaha County for physically assaulting her by strangulation on two separate occasions.”
He was later apprehended in Tennessee with the victim in August 2022. Massiah was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.