Four men who were arrested in May for forcing two women, one a 14-year-old, into prostitution have now been indicted for human trafficking, conspiracy, child endangerment, and other counts, reports the Associated Press.

The men are ringleader Micheal McLeod (pictured), David Powell Jr., and Tyree Jeter, all of New Jersey, and Demetrius James Hayward of South Carolina. The New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force reported on the arrests back in May:

It is alleged that McLeod used violence or the threat of violence to control the two victims who were prostituted by the defendants: the 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman. The human trafficking charge and first-degree prostitution charge pertain to the defendants’ conduct against the 14-year-old. McLeod is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly holding a gun to the head of the 18-year-old and threatening to kill her recently when he accused her of disrespecting him. Other times, he allegedly beat and kicked her. The defendants allegedly put the victims up at each hotel for four or five days at a time. The victims were required to prostitute themselves under the control of McLeod and his assistants. Each victim had sex with up to 10 customers a day, making up to $800, all of which McLeod collected.

In announcing the indictments today, the Task Force indicates the charges are the result of an investigation undertaken alongside the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force and something called the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Unit in the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau. An undercover FBI detective telephoned a number in a backpage.com advertisement and arranged a “date.” The other victim, an unnamed 18-year-old, was assigned to keep track of the 14-year-old at the date, and once sex was offered for money officers took the two teenagers into custody.

The first-degree human trafficking charges carry sentences of 20 years to life imprisonment.

[AP]