Columbus Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Leading Narcotics, Sex Trafficking & Financial Fraud Conspiracies

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio. Ricco Lamonte Maye was sentenced in federal court to life in prison for leading drug, sex trafficking and financial fraud conspiracies and then attempting to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses; he had been found guilty on all counts in November 2024 following a three-week jury trial. The release says the drug conspiracy caused an overdose death. In the financial conspiracy, Maye and other defendants filed for and received more than $30,000 in fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and he kept all or a portion of the others' benefits. A 13-count third superseding indictment charged Maye and 10 co-conspirators. The page prints conflicting dates, so none is stated.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

PRESS RELEASE


Columbus man sentenced to life in prison
for leading narcotics, sex trafficking &
financial fraud conspiracies
Wednesday, October 1, 2025

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Columbus man was sentenced in federal court here today to life
in prison for leading drug, sex trafficking and financial fraud conspiracies and then
attempting to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses. The defendant caused an
overdose death, coerced addicts into prostitution, and used threats, violence, and
manipulation of drug dependencies to ensure individuals carried out his criminal
schemes.

Ricco Lamonte Maye, 43, was found guilty on all counts in November 2024 following a
three-week jury trial.

“Ricco Maye used unrelenting violence as a tool to maintain control of the people he
needed to carry out his many criminal schemes and finance his criminal lifestyle. His
actions caused lives to be lost and numerous women to endure physical and emotional
pain,” said U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II. “The devastating repercussions of his
actions in this case, the many years of violence that are documented in his criminal
history, and his continuing disregard for the harm he has caused all warrant the life
sentence he received today.”

Court documents and trial testimony detail that Maye used individuals to buy and sell
drugs, sell women for sex, and fraudulently apply online for COVID-19 relief funds.
Proceeds from all the crimes went to the defendant.

Beginning in at least 2018, Maye’s drug trafficking organization primarily distributed
narcotics to addicts in street-level quantities. He regularly purchased narcotics from
supply sources both inside and outside of Ohio and used addicts to help sell the drugs
in Columbus. In addition to cash, Maye would accept stolen goods, gift cards, Social
Security numbers, and other items as payment for the drugs.
Maye initially gave drugs to women for free and later manipulated their addiction by
requiring them to earn drug money through prostitution. Maye provided the means for
the women to engage in prostitution – frequently obtaining hotel rooms, having the
women driven to the hotels, providing cell phones, and directing Internet prostitution
ads. Maye collected the prostitution proceeds, enforced specific rules on the women,
and punished the women through physical violence.

Maye also provided fentanyl that resulted in an overdose death. In November 2018,
Maye communicated with the victim in the hours before his death. The victim had been
obtaining cocaine from Maye off and on for years and sought to obtain cocaine from
Maye again on the night of his death. Maye was out of town but instructed his co-
conspirators to complete the drug sale to the victim. The co-conspirator gave the victim
a fatal dose of fentanyl from Maye’s stash instead of the cocaine the victim sought.

Trial testimony detailed that Maye used violence against victims as part of overseeing
his drug trafficking organization, including “stomping victims out,” smacking them,
punching them, breaking their bones and knocking out their teeth.

In a financial conspiracy, Maye and other defendants filed for and received more than
$30,000 in fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Maye kept all or a portion of
the others’ benefits.

Maye was originally charged by indictment in November 2020. Approximately one year
later, the grand jury returned a 13-count third superseding indictment that charged
Maye and 10 of his-coconspirators. After his initial arrest, while Maye remained in
custody, he attempted to obstruct the ongoing investigation into his sex trafficking and
other criminal activities and conspired to tamper with witnesses. Maye’s obstruction of
justice included his directing the threatened murder of a potential government witness.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; John
Smerglia, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF); Adam Lawson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant; the U.S.
Department of Labor Office of Inspector General; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
and other officials with the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which was
formed under Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations
Commission, announced the guilty verdicts. Senior Litigation Counsel Heather A. Hill
and Assistant United States Attorney Kevin W. Kelley represented the United States in
this case.

                                         ###
Updated November 10, 2025

Topics
HUMAN TRAFFICKING

DRUG TRAFFICKING

FINANCIAL FRAUD

VIOLENT CRIME

Component
USAO - Ohio, Southern


File and source

File

2025-11-13-Columbus-Man-Sentenced-to-Life-in-Prison-for-Leading-Narcotics-Sex-Trafficking-Financial-Fraud-Cons.pdf

Size

103,616 bytes

SHA-256

4fdc0875177ce70b776a47cee2378c9cc988487e7e68955445bd68c99145c293

Our copy

2025-11-13-Columbus-Man-Sentenced-to-Life-in-Prison-for-Leading-Narcotics-Sex-Trafficking-Financial-Fraud-Cons.pdf

Original

www.oig.dol.gov