Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views of the author.
When people hear the word predator they think of a fictional movie alien or an African lion hunting down a Gazelle for a good meal. You never see footage of a Great White going after a Killer Whale.
The point is that predators only go after things they can obtain because they are bigger, stronger, faster, more intelligent, or more cunning and mean. They don’t go after anything that can harm them.
Children are easy prey for sex traffickers and abusers. They are smaller, weaker, naive, and can be manipulated. Especially, when you are rich and powerful.
Jeffrey Epstein was infamous for his sexual exploitation of young teenage girls who were, in many cases, no older than children. He didn’t do this alone. Ghislaine Maxwell helped.
Maxwell was convicted this past December for sex crimes against children. At the time, prosecutors claimed she was a “sophisticated predator” despite defense claims she was an innocent scapegoat for Epstein.
According to the NY Post, Maxwell was convicted on the charge of sex trafficking minors, which carries a maximum of 40 years in prison, and the following crimes:
- Count 1: conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
- Count 3: conspiracy to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
- Count 4: transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
- Count 5: Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, which carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison.
If you add up all the years she could have faced in prison, the total is 65 years behind bars. Yet, she was received a total of 20 years in prison.
The sex trafficker is getting sent to a low-security prison in Florida where she can take part in numerous fun activities.
There have been numerous cases around the country where the offender was sentenced to life in prison for the same or similar offenses.
According to abcnewsgo.com, Cordelle Jenkins, an Ohio Pastor, was sentenced to life in prison for similar crimes in May of 2019.
U.S. News reports William Quinn got life in prison in Nebraska on December 21, 2021. He was convicted of sex trafficking a fifteen-year-old girl.
On November 15, 2021, Marlin Thomas of Des Moines, Iowa was sentenced to life in prison for sex trafficking, according to justice.gov. The list goes on and on all over the country.
Why did Maxwell only get sentenced to twenty years? A plea bargain occurrs when the sentence gets reduced in exchange for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of other perpetrators or a confession. It happens all the time.
I’ve been at those tables when deals happen. I’ve offered deals to individuals. Granted, those were cases that did not rise to the level of the Maxwell case. Nowhere even close.
However, when deals come about, information is provided. Every detail, in this case, points to an agreement. In this matter, no subsequent arrests have resulted and no confession has been made public.
The deal appears to suggest Maxwell is supposed to keep her mouth shut. Does that explain her transfer to what is called “Disneyland” prison?
People often forget. Security levels aren’t just for the outside world. They define the amount of security the inmates have inside for their own protection. Minimum security may not be all that great for Ms. Maxwell.
