An Atlantic City man accused of using violence, threats and drugs to force women into sex trafficking was convicted this week.
Gregory used force and the women's drug addictions to keep them under his control. He even continued to try to control one from the county jail.
Both are now in recovery and were able to testify.
“Because of the victims’ strength, they ended Gregory’s reign of trafficking and spared future victims," Assistant Prosecutor Deirdre Laws said.
One victim initially told investigators she saw Gregory “beat other girls as if they were grown men."
When one of the women tried to leave him, Gregory put a “bounty” on her head, posting on Facebook: “Anybody seen this (expletive)” with dollar signs, Buckley said.
When he did track her down, Gregory allegedly dragged the woman by her hair and locked her in a closet long enough so that she urinated.
A jury convicted Gregory on Wednesday, after a two-week trial.
Gregory was arrested several times in 2017 before being held in the human-trafficking case.
He already was on probation when he was arrested on gun and drug charges that February. Despite the state's attempt to hold him, he was released at that time.
Two months later, he was put on an ankle bracelet because of a parole violation.
It wasn't until his third arrest that year that Gregory was held.
He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison without parole when he is sentenced, which is scheduled for March 7.
