Florida man convicted of sex trafficking nearly a dozen women and girls over 8 years

After a nine-day trial, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found Shannima Yuantrell Session, also known as Shalamar, 47, of Lake Placid, Florida, guilty of 13 counts related to the sex trafficking of nearly a dozen women and girls. The trafficking offenses occurred between July 2011 and July 2013, and again between February 2016 and February 2019, during which Session forced his victims to perform commercial sex acts.

“The defendant used despicable and horrific means to terrorize and coerce nearly a dozen women and girls into commercial sex,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This prosecution is a testament to the courageous survivors who worked with law enforcement to hold the defendant accountable for years of cruelty and exploitation.”

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Session exploited vulnerable women and girls, many of whom struggled with unstable living conditions, substance abuse, or neglect. He lured them with promises of legitimate employment and housing assistance, only to later force them into commercial sex in unsanitary and dangerous environments, such as migrant worker trailers and local orange groves.

Session used food and shelter as tools of control, often depriving victims of meals if they did not comply with his demands. In some cases, he demanded that victims have sex with him, after forcing them to have sex with as many as 18 men in one night.

The trial also revealed that Session used extreme physical violence to intimidate and control his victims. He would hit them on the back of the head to avoid leaving visible marks, drag them into showers and beat them, choke them until they passed out, and use a baseball bat to assault them. In one case, Session held the heads of several victims underwater in a lake and threatened to drown them if they did not comply.

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Session also used a firearm to intimidate his victims, often brandishing the weapon and making threats. In one instance, after a victim questioned him about his treatment of her, he pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her. The victim managed to escape by jumping out of the car and fleeing into nearby woods, prompting Session to fire a shot into the air while shouting her name.

Additionally, Session manipulated the drug addiction of some victims by providing them with cocaine and methamphetamine in order to have commercial sex with multiple men in nearby trailers.

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“This ruling is an important step toward justice for the victims who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of Shannima Yuantrell Session,” said Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to dismantle human trafficking rings and bring perpetrators to justice.”

Session is scheduled to be sentenced on December 19. He faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison. He must also pay reparations for the damage he caused to his victims.

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