A Pocono man was charged Wednesday with running a sex trafficking ring that extended into the Lehigh Valley.
Thomas Cory Green, 33, of Chestnuthill Township in Monroe County, is accused of intimidating and threatening women to perform sex acts for money.
The trafficking took place in Lehigh, Luzerne, and Lackawanna counties between 2023 and November of this year, according to a news release Thursday from the Pennsylvania Attorney General.
Green allegedly got help from 32-year-old Easton resident Christopher Williams.
Green was violent with the victims, and they feared further aggression if they did not engage in commercial sex acts for him, the release says. It says he used his alleged affiliation with gang activity to frighten and control the women.
Green set up advertisements on websites to solicit clients and then collected some or all of the victims’ profits from the sex acts, according to authorities.
“Green used violence and his criminal past to invoke fear in these women, whom he devalued as people and viewed solely as a means to make money,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said.
Green was arraigned Wednesday. The district judge deemed him “extremely dangerous” before denying him bail. There’s no attorney listed in court records for Green.
Williams was sent to prison Monday, when bail was set at $500,000. He has no attorney listed.
Quindell Bowers, 27, of Lithia Springs, Georgia, is also charged with sex trafficking and related offenses. He remains a fugitive. He didn’t return a voicemail left Thursday at his publicly listed phone number.
Green is charged with 12 counts of involuntary servitude, 12 counts of promoting, procuring and/or transporting prostitutes, six counts of sex trafficking and three counts of criminal conspiracy. He is also charged with single counts of dealing in proceeds of unlawful actions, rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, simple assault, theft, criminal use of a communication facility, and a corrupt organizations charge.
Williams is charged with four counts of involuntary servitude, four counts of promoting prostitution, two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of criminal conspiracy and single counts of criminal use of a communication facility, dealing in proceeds of unlawful acts, and a corrupt organizations charge.