Miami man gets life for sex-trafficking underage girl
Jason Gatlin was sentenced to life in prison Monday after he was convicted of forcing a 17-yearold girl into the sex trade in Miami-Dade and the Keys, took videos and pictures of her having sex to attract clients and then bribed the victim to lie.
Gatlin, 42, of Miami, was found guilty in September of sex trafficking of a minor, production of child pornography and witness tampering. He faced a minimum of 15 years to a maximum of life on the sex-trafficking charge in the indictment.
Gatlin’s defense attorney, Philip Horowitz, argued that he did not deserve an “enhancement” for harsher punishment because the defendant was “not a repeat and dangerous sex offender against minors,” under federal sentencing guidelines.
But U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith gave Gatlin the maximum at his sentencing in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
According to court records, Gatlin came to know the teen victim through another girl the same age. He knew the victim had a history of running away and being trafficked for sex by others. In October 2018, Gatlin met the victim at a McDonald’s in the Florida Keys and Gatlin offered her money to work for him, court records show. He convinced the girl he wanted to marry her.
But investigators say that over a two-month span, Gatlin taught her how to post ads of herself to attract customers. If she didn’t give him enough money through prostitution, he beat her, according to a criminal complaint. Gatlin also rented rooms in the Keys for the teen to meet her customers.
On Nov. 26, Gatlin took her to a Motel 6 in Cutler Bay, where he rented a room for a few nights so she could have sex with customers who had responded to her online ad.
When Gatlin arrived two days later, the minor said she didn’t have any money for him. Gatlin hit her across the face and drove her to Monroe County, where she had sex with more customers, the complaint says. While in Monroe,
Gatlin beat her to the point of unconsciousness after she threatened to call the police on him if he didn’t take her back to Miami-Dade, records show. Gatlin eventually agreed to drive her back to MiamiDade.
“Then, at the end of November, when Gatlin felt that the victim was not living up to his rules, he beat her up and left her at a gas station down in the
Keys with a swollen face and bloody, ripped clothes,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Once inside the station bathroom, she locked herself in and called 911 on Nov. 30, 2018. Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies found her, and Gatlin was arrested a few days later in Miami-Dade.
While in jail, Gatlin bribed the girl to tell investigators that she was never trafficked by him and never had sex with him, prosecutors Jessica Kahn Obenauf and J. Mackenzie Duane said at trial. It was Gatlin’s mother who housed the girl and drove her to a defense attorney’s office for her to recant her story, they said.
“The government presented recorded evidence at trial to prove the witness tampering,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation, and investigated by the FBI, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Miami-Dade Police Department