South Carolina sex trafficker who beat, starved and tattooed women sentenced to 40 years
A Newberry man who ran a violent sex and human trafficking ring in the Midlands and Upstate South Carolina has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.
Eric Rashun Jones controlled every aspect of the women that he forced to prostitute themselves, prosecutors said in court Thursday. He transported them around the state, tattooed his personal mark on their necks and hands, made them ask his permission to shower and eat, and sometimes starved them for days.
He plied them with drugs and then withheld the substances until they gave in to his demands. He filmed himself spitting on them and made them beat each other to prove their loyalty to him. And when Jones, 31, believed that they had disobeyed him, he beat them with his fists, pans, plates and handguns until their ears rang, their faces were bruised and misshapen and their mouths were full of loose teeth, the victims said.
Jones’ actions were the “epitome of human depravity,” U.S. District Judge Sherri Lydon said as she handed down the sentence. “Your actions violated the most basic human rights.”
In imposing a sentence ten years greater than the 30-year minimum requested by federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina, Lydon, the former U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, reflected that it was one of the worst cases she had seen in her time on the bench.
“You destroyed a lot of lives, Mr. Jones, and this sentence and every day of it is so you don’t destroy more.”
Jones, represented by defense attorney Jonathan Milling, will have to serve out his sentence in the federal Bureau of Prisons. There is no parole in the federal system. Lydon also imposed a life sentence of supervised release.
Jones, also known as “E-Dolla” and “E,” was charged with ten counts on November 15, 2022. The charges were one count of human trafficking conspiracy, five counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion and three counts of witness tampering and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
On June 5, 2023, Jones pleaded guilty to one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm, human trafficking conspiracy and one count of witness tampering.
In court and in indictments, Jones was accused of running a prostitution ring out of motels and hotels across South Carolina. Prosecutors estimated that Jones victimized up to 12 women, some of whom had been attending college when they met Jones. But even with Jones shackled and in an orange jumpsuit, all of the victims and their families were still too scared of him to come to court, Assistant United States Attorney Elliott Daniels told the court.
In statements and texts read out to the court, the victims described how Jones had made them feel understood, how in love with him they had been and how much they had come to fear him.
“I would die for you,” one victim texted Jones. “But I will not die by your hand.”
That victim was attending a Midlands college on a softball scholarship when she met Jones.
Records and witness statements read in court describe how Jones, along with his cousin Brittany Cromer, maintained this business with violence and fear. Everything from escape to even just the appearance of disobedience would be met with overwhelming cruelty. Cromer pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Inside a Microtel in Greenville, Jones slapped another woman so hard that her ears rang for days, according to a sentencing memo. Telling her that he would put her “six feet under,” Jones confiscated her possessions and clothes, leaving her naked in a hotel room where she was forced to have sex with men for money.
Another victim told law enforcement of being beaten so badly with a pistol that she suffered permanent hearing damage.
“I don’t want to walk the same streets Eric Jones walks and I don’t want any young girls to cross his path,” Lydon said. “This sentence and every second of it is necessary to protect the public from this monster.”
