Source: Office of United States Attorneys
BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Joel David Forney, also known as “Sirbar,” on two counts of sex trafficking for using force, fraud and coercion to cause two women to work as prostitutes, including at an open-air sex trafficking market along a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York known as the Penn Track, as well as related charges for transporting a woman to and from New York and other states, including Connecticut and Wisconsin, with the intent that she engage in prostitution. Forney was also found guilty of coercion and enticement of a minor with whom he had sexual intercourse in 2014 when he was 31 years old. The verdict was returned after a five-day trial before United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto. When sentenced, Forney faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, and up to life, in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the verdict.
“The jury found that Forney used violence and threats to compel women to engage in commercial sex acts at the Penn Track for his own profit, and enticed a vulnerable minor into having sex with him” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Our Office will relentlessly pursue those, like the defendant, who engage in sex trafficking, and I commend the survivors of Forney’s depraved conduct who bravely assisted law enforcement in bringing him to justice.”
Mr. Nocella also expressed his thanks to the FBI/NYPD Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force for their outstanding investigative work on the case.
“The defendant used violence and threats of violence to compel his victims to engage in commercial sex for his profit,” stated Assistant Attorney General Dhillon. “There is no place in a civilized society for the defendant’s inhumane conduct, and the Justice Department is committed to punishing human trafficking and achieving justice for its victims.”
“Joel Forney lured and forced women into commercial sexual acts with multiple individuals for his own profit and personally sought out and sexually abused a minor. Forney mercilessly punished and threatened extreme violence to induce compliance from his trafficked victims. May today’s conviction empower survivors of sexual violence and emphasize the FBI’s intolerance of those who seek to profit from another’s abuse,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
As proven at trial, Forney used false promises to lure women into his trafficking business. Forney then compelled these women to engage in commercial sex with men while keeping their earnings for himself. If the women refused, Forney subjected them to physical abuse and threatened to hurt or kill them if they did not comply. Forney showed one victim an image on his cellphone of a dismembered woman and stated, “this is what happens to whores who don’t obey their pimps.”
The evidence also showed that the defendant lured a third victim, a minor whom he met in June 2014 near his then-home in Queens, New York, by sending her romantic and sexual text messages. Forney and the minor victim discussed her life as a teenager, including her school and her relationship with her parents, and the defendant repeatedly offered her money. Once in his house, Forney had sex with the victim, even though he was 31 years old, and she was no more than 15 years old.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Antoinette N. Rangel, Lauren A. Bowman, and Trial Attorney Leah Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Chelsea Guzman and additional assistance from Victim Witness Coordinator Huda Abouchaer and Victim Witness Specialist Kristina Marius.
The Defendant:
JOEL DAVID FORNEY (also known as “Sirbar”)
Age: 42
Kissimmee, Florida
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-146 (KAM)