Silver Spring Man Gets 12 Years for Sex Trafficking Two Minors

A 25-year-old Silver Spring man was sentenced to 12 years for two counts of sex trafficking, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore said Wednesday.

Roland Chick Akum also faces five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender after he leaves prison, according to the sentence handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake.

According to Akum’s plea agreement, between June and August 2017, Akum, aka “Rayne,” took two girls, 15 and 17, to a motel in College Park, to engage in commercial sex acts, the attorney’s office said.

Akum used Backpage, a website that marketed commercial sex, to advertise the girls and kept a portion of the proceeds that customers paid the girls for commercial sex acts, the attorney’s office said.

On July 7, 2017, the 15-year-old girl left Akum and the hotel and called law enforcement, the attorney’s office said.

Akum continued to traffic the 17-year-old girl until he was arrested on Aug. 10, 2017, as part of an undercover operation targeting Backpage, and was released on bond the following day, the attorney’s office said.

On Sept. 30, 2017, Akum, who is a citizen of Cameroon, purchased a one-way ticket from Dulles International Airport to Cameroon, scheduled to depart on Oct. 12, 2017.  Akum was arrested again on Oct. 3, 2017, and remains in custody, the attorney’s office said.

This case was investigated by the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders.  Members include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members.  For more information about the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/priorities_human.html.

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