U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced Friday, Feb. 13, that Rai Thomas, 31, a/k/a “Bandz,” of Mount Vernon, NY, was sentenced to 160 months (13.3 years) in prison for sex trafficking a minor and for use of interstate facilities to promote sex trafficking and prostitution. He said in October 2025, Thomas was convicted at trial before U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Román, who imposed the sentence.

 

“Rai Thomas preyed on a child for profit, advertising her to strangers on the internet and selling her for sex again and again so he could enrich himself,” said Clayton. “New Yorkers want child sex traffickers off our streets, never to return. Today’s lengthy prison sentence is indicative of this Office’s commitment to continuing to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to remove sex traffickers like Thomas from our streets and communities.”

 

According to the allegations in the indictment and the evidence at trial, between January and February 2022, Thomas trafficked Minor Victim-1 to engage in commercial sexual activity across multiple hotels in The Bronx and in Brooklyn. The court heard that Minor Victim-1 had been living in a children’s group home at the time that Thomas trafficked her.

 

Prosecutors said Thomas facilitated and benefited from the scheme in numerous ways, including by enticing Minor Victim-1 to engage in commercial sex; coordinating the transportation of Minor Victim-1 to hotels; reserving the hotel rooms in which she engaged in commercial sex; facilitating the advertisement of Minor Victim-1 on the internet to customers for commercial sex; and profiting from the sex trafficking scheme.

 

In addition to the prison term, Thomas was sentenced to five years of supervised release. Clayton praised what he described as the outstanding investigative work of the FBI”s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department, and the NYPD.

 

The case is being handled by the Office of U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York’s White Plains division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Qais Ghafary, Kaiya Arroyo, and Jorja Knauer represented the government at trial, with the assistance of Gabriela Salerno, Samantha Olsen, and Shannon Becker, paralegal specialists.

 

January marked Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Oct. 21, 2025 that Manhattan man, Akeem Lee, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and five years post-release supervision for sex trafficking a child in a Bronx motel, along with additional charges of forced prostitution. Read more here.

 

Norwood News had also reported in July 2021 that three Bronx men and a woman were charged with sex trafficking a child at the same location, along with other charges.

 

Those who work in the area of sex trafficking prevention say undomiciled youth are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking pimps, including those from the LGBTQ+ community who may have been rejected by their parents and find themselves living on the street.

To learn 10 facts about child trafficking, watch this 5-minute video by Love146, a nonprofit working to help prevent and address it.

 

If you are, or know, a victim of human trafficking, trained professional help is available from the Bronx District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, who can be reached at (718) 838-7185.

 

Freedom Youth Family Justice Center also works with victims of sex trafficking in The Bronx. Click here and here to read some of our past coverage of their work, and for more information, visit https://www.freedomyouthfamilyjusticecenter.org/.