Life In Prison For 2 Men Convicted Of Drugging, Raping Women
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) -- Two North Miami men will serve life in prison after they were convicted of drugging women and videotaping themselves having sex with women to sell as pornography.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore imposed the sentences Thursday on 41-year-old Lavont Flanders Jr. and 45-year-old Emerson Callum.
They were convicted of multiple sex-related and conspiracy charges in December.
Prosecutors say the two lured women to Miami with false promises of model work. At auditions they were given drinks laced with date rape drugs. One of the men then had sex with the women while the other filmed it. The film was then sold to pornography Internet sites and stores.
Flanders, of Miami Gardens, is a former Miami Beach police officer who was fired. He also worked for the Opa-locka police department, the Department of Homeland Security, and was a Miami-Dade Transit bus driver, according to court records.
Callum, of Miami, known as "Jah-T," was a self-described porn star who produced adult videos at his Miramar business.
Flanders posed as a female model when contacting the women by phone about the purported auditions. Prosecutors say at least 50 women were victims.
This was not the first time Callum and Flanders have had a run in with the law.
In 2007, they were arrested for similar crimes.
State prosecutors initially charged the men in Broward County, but they were freed on bond and continued to prey on women while they were free, prosecutors said. Officials said the state charges were eventually dropped to make way for the federal case.
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