CINCINNATI -- A man was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for sex trafficking of children and production of child pornography, authorities announced a Friday.
Malik D.M. Bell, 24, recruited a 15-year-old girl to engage in a commercial sex act through a website in April 2015, according to court records. He picked up the victim in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and drove her to a West Chester, Ohio hotel and recorded video on his cellphone of himself performing sex acts with her.
Bell then took nude and partially nude photos of the teen and made advertisements with them on another website, according to court documents. He arranged for at least two men to have sex with her at the hotel and instructed her how much to charge for various amounts of time and sexual acts. The victim gave Bell the money she was paid.
Bell was indicted in March 2016 and pleaded guilty to the two counts in February 2017. The total sentence adds up to 210 months in prison.
"Malik Bell took advantage of a vulnerable juvenile and sexually exploited her for his own financial gain," U.S. Attorney Glassman said. "Today’s sentence illustrates how egregious his criminal actions were."
