Columbus man guilty on sex, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Franklin Count Court of Common Pleas jury found a Columbus man guilty of forcing drug addicts into prostitution through violence.

Ricco Maye, 42, was accused of leading drug, sex trafficking and financial fraud conspiracies, while attempting to obstruct justice and tampering with witnesses. The three-week trial concluded last week with Maye being found guilty on all 14 charges, which included two counts of sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion, nine counts of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, attempt and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and tampering with a witness, victim or informant.

Court documents and trial testimony detailed 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.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Ohio said that beginning in at least 2018, Maye’s drug trafficking organization 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 then provided the means for the women to engage in prostitution – frequently obtaining hotel rooms, having the women driven to the hotels, providing 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 was also found guilty of providing fentanyl which 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 him again in this instance but received a fatal dose of fentanyl instead.

Trial testimony also 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 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.

Three of Maye’s charges, distributing a controlled substance, which resulted in one man's death, drug trafficking, and sex trafficking by force, come with a maximum sentence of life in prison. The other charges are punishable by up to 20-30 years.

Maye was one of 10 people charged in the conspiracy case. The full list includes: