An Orlando-area bail bondsman was arrested and accused of making women have sex with him in exchange for bonding them out of jail after a years-long investigation, according to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI).
Russell "Bruce" Moncrief, owner of Moncrief Bail Bonds, faces three counts of human trafficking and one count of racketeering, NBC affiliate WESH reported.
MBI evidence suggests that for more than 10 years, Moncrief allegedly "used his position as a bail bondsman to prey on women in the criminal justice system," targeting women inmates in Orange County jail on prostitution or drug charges, Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement.
One woman told investigators that inmates talked about the alleged operation, saying code words like "wash your car" or "lick your eyebrow" meant he would bond them out in exchange for sexual favors.
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Authorities also said they caught Moncrief in the act, sharing photos of him with women at motels, restaurants and other places in public.
According to the MBI, it began investigating Moncrief in October 2021 after the April 2020 arrest of John Gillespie, a Brevard County attorney, on human trafficking charges. Gillespie's victims told MBI that they had to have sex with Moncrief in exchange for being bonded out of jail or bonding others out of jail.
Moncrief's alleged victims told MBI it was common knowledge among inmates that this practice occurred, and that he threatened to revoke their bond if they did not cooperate.
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His personal cellphone took several hundred phone calls from the Orange County jail, and "female inmates made every phone call," investigators said.
"The defendant used his position as a bail bondsman to prey on women in the criminal justice system. After bailing his victims out of jail, he continued to use his power over them to sell the women for sex to others for his own financial gain. Working with MBI, we uncovered this sickening scheme, and we will prosecute the defendant on human trafficking and racketeering charges," Moody's statement reads.
If convicted, Moncrief faces up to 125 years in prison.
Moncrief Bail Bonds, which was started in 1978, has offices in Orange, Osceola, Brevard and Pinellas counties, according to the company's website.
NBC affiliate WESH has reached out to the company for comment.
