Baltimore Firefighter Charged with Running Prostitution Ring

Posted by: Curt Varone July 11, 2012 0

Sometimes a headline says it all. However, that is not true in this case. Believe it or not there is a more surprising fact: the arrest of a Baltimore city firefighter for running an online prostitution ring and unlicensed after-hours club in a warehouse is not his first, but rather is a repeat of something he had been arrested for previously and somehow kept his job.

In 2010, Firefighter Jamar Marvin Simmons, 29, was arrested  on sex trafficking charges when he delivered a prostitute to undercover police officers. The officers were responding to an online ad for sex. Simmons somehow managed to keep his job, received one year of supervised probation, and paid a $300 fine.

Yesterday, Simmons and 33-year-old Franklin Coit, were charged following a raid by the FBI’s Human Trafficking Safe Streets Task Force.  The task force was investigating an online prostitution ring operating out of a converted warehouse on South Pulaski Street.

Police seized drugs, a .40-caliber handgun, computers, condoms, sex toys, and ledgers showing the scope of the enterprise.

Baltimore city fire officials report that Simmons has now been suspended without pay.

More on the story.

 

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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