A bail bondsman is accused of using his position to get women out of jail in exchange for sex, authorities said.
Russell “Bruce” Moncrief, 75, of Cocoa, Fla. is charged with racketeering and human trafficking, Attorney General Ashley Moody of the Office of Statewide Prosecution announced in a press release on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation claims that Moncrief, the owner of Moncrief Bail Bonds in Central Florida, used his position as a bondsman “to target female inmates in Orange County jail and others on prostitution and/or drug charges and would offer the victims bond in exchange for sex,” according to the prosecution’s office.
Moncrief allegedly “would bond out female inmates in exchange for sex,” the prosecution said, adding, “The defendant even offered to bail out inmates in exchange for sex from someone outside of jail.” The prosecution’s office also claimed that Moncrief “sold women he bonded out to other buyers.”
According to the arrest affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE, the women claimed that Moncrief would use code words, including one instance when an inmate was allegedly told to call him and say that “she would ‘wash his car and lick his eyebrows’ ” in order to get out of jail.
Per the affidavit, one woman who called Moncrief claimed he bailed her out, picked her up from jail — and in exchange, performed a sexual favor for him in his car.
Additionally, Moncrief “would use threats of revoking, pulling or violating” their bonds “as a form of force, fraud or coercion,” Moody alleged in the release, adding that “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 continued, per the release.
According to Florida Today, the MBI began investigating Moncrief in October 2021 after the April 2020 arrest of former defense attorney John Gillespie on charges of human trafficking. However, he was found incompetent after pleading not guilty, according to Orange County court documents.
“Victims of Gillespie alleged to have performed sexual acts with Moncrief as well,” the prosecution’s office said on Tuesday, per the release.
Moncrief, meanwhile, was arrested by the Orange County Fugitive Unit and is being held without bond.
Per the prosecution’s office, he “is charged with three counts of human trafficking for commercial sexual activity, one count of racketeering and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communications device to facilitate the commission of a felony. Altogether, Moncrief faces four first-degree felonies and one third-degree felony.”
If found guilty, he faces up to 125 years in prison, per the release, which noted that Mary Sammon is prosecuting the case.
As of Thursday, Oct. 31, it was unclear whether Moncrief had retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
