Woman gets 15 years for sex trafficking

A 25-year-old Chester woman was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison on Wednesday for operating a prostitution business involving young females, including one minor.

Rashidah Brice pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, 2013, to charges of sex trafficking of a minor by force and two counts of sex trafficking by force. With her codefendant - Christian Dior Womack, 29 - Brice, who also uses the names "Camille" and "Milly," ran a prostitution business in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Brice and Womack recruited young females to work for them as prostitutes between May 25, 2012, and Feb. 3, 2013. The pair used violence and threats of physical harm to keep the females in line.

Brice and Womack used Internet ads showing the women in scanty clothing to set up meetings with clients, officials said.

U.S. District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg also sentenced Brice to 10 years of supervised release and ordered her to pay $35,000 in restitution.

Womack is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 12.