Federal jury convicts Hawaiʻi man, 38, of sex trafficking
HONOLULU (KHON2) — A federal jury has convicted a Hawaiʻi man of multiple counts of sex trafficking for crimes committed between 2019 and 2021.
Officials say Isaiah McCoy, 38, trafficked three adults and one minor, promising them a life of luxury, romance and financial security.
Miske daughter-in-law to serve 7 years in prison
According to the Department of Justice, McCoy would lure them in with these false promises before turning violent and abusive if they didn't follow his rules.
Officials added that he would force them into commercial sex work and would abuse them if they did not comply.
Additionally, prosecutor say McCoy forced the victims to give him all their money from his commercial sex business 'because he felt that the money belonged to him.'He would then use the money to buy designer items for himself and would use them as 'rewards' for the victims.
Today's conviction vindicates the rights of multiple women and girls who the defendant terrorized over several years within the District of Hawaii. There is no place in a civilized society for the defendant's atrocious conduct, and the Justice Department is committed to standing up for vulnerable human trafficking victims and holding their traffickers accountable.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
McCoy faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and restitution when he is sentenced in August.
Check out more news from around Hawaii
Anyone who may have information on human trafficking should call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 373-7888.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man, 38, accused of spiking pregnant girlfriend's drink with abortion drug
A 38-year-old man is facing capital murder and tampering with evidence charges in connection with accusations he terminated his girlfriend's pregnancy without her consent or knowledge, investigators announced earlier this week. The alleged incident, according to a news release from the Parker County Sheriff's Department in Texas, an area about 35 miles west of Fort Worth, occurred in October 2024. An unidentified woman who was reportedly dating the suspect, identified as Justin Anthony Banta, a Texas resident and employee of the United States Department of Justice, told sheriff's investigators that she'd informed the 38-year-old that she was pregnant in September 2024. Banta, according to the woman, told her he would cover the cost of an abortion and suggested they order the abortion-inducing medication Plan C online. 'The victim informed Banta of her desire to keep the baby,' investigators said. On Oct. 17, 2024, at approximately six weeks pregnant, the woman received a sonogram from her doctor who reported a healthy pregnancy with strong vital signs and heartbeat. Later the same day, Banta met the woman at a coffee shop where the victim believes he 'added abortion-inducing pills to her drink without her knowledge or permission.' The following day, the victim reported exhaustion and bleeding so heavy that she went to the emergency room. On Oct. 19, according to sheriff's investigators, the woman lost the pregnancy. During an investigation, the 38-year-old's cellphone was confiscated as evidence. Sheriff's investigators believe that Banta, who works in the DOJ's IT department, remotely accessed the device and performed a reset, 'thereby deleting crucial evidence related to the case.' On June 6, authorities arrested Banta for tampering with physical evidence and a charge from the Texas Rangers for capital murder. The 38-year-old later posted $500,000 bail and was released. The federal IT worker, who is separated from his wife, NBC News reported, and his lawyer are denying the allegations, saying Banta only met the alleged victim four times. U.S. Marshal wrongly detained by ICE agents in lobby of federal building Michael Heiskell, Banta's attorney, told the outlet that his client has cooperated with investigators since last fall when his relationship with the woman ended and that, so far, law enforcement has shown Banta no evidence that the woman was in fact pregnant. 'There were discussions about her being pregnant, but that was never confirmed by her to him. And yes, he did research Plan C,' Heiskell told NBC News, while adding that his client did not put the drug into the woman's drink. The Parker County Sheriff's Department expressed its gratitude to the owners and staff of the coffee shop for their cooperation with the investigation, though they did not say if there was potential video evidence linked to the case. Nearly all abortions are banned in Texas, and abortion-inducing medication cannot be accessed through doctors or pharmacists in the state. Residents can, however, get the drugs through online providers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst who leaked docs on Israeli strike
A former CIA analyst who leaked top secret US intelligence documents about Israeli military plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran was sentenced to 37 months in prison on Wednesday, the Justice Department said. Asif Rahman, 34, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since 2016 and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia in November. In January, Rahman pleaded guilty at a federal courthouse in Virginia to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. He faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Iran unleashed a wave of close to 200 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in the Tehran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. Israel responded with a wave of strikes on military targets in Iran in late October. According to a court filing, on October 17 Rahman printed out two top secret documents "regarding a United States foreign ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary." He photographed the documents and used a computer program to edit the images in "an attempt to conceal their source and delete his activity," it said. Rahman then transmitted the documents to "multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them" before shredding them at work. The documents, circulated on the Telegram app by an account called Middle East Spectator, described Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran but did not identify any actual targets. According to The Washington Post, the documents, generated by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, described aviation exercises and movements of munitions at an Israeli airfield. The leak led Israeli officials to delay their retaliatory strike. cl/jgc
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Louisville did not delay police reform order, say mayor, chief in response to criticism
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg talks with attendees of The Louisville Forum at Vincenzo's in downtown Louisville. June 11, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd) LOUISVILLE — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey said the city should not be blamed for delaying a court order to correct civil rights abuses by Louisville police and to reform the department. During the monthly meeting of The Louisville Forum Wednesday, Humphrey pointed to federal 'bureaucracy' while Greenberg acknowledged that 'a lot of people … think that our administration and the LMPD was the reason' a consent decree mandating police reforms was not signed before the Republican Trump administration killed the agreement as expected. The mayor insisted that is not the case. Responding to an audience question, Greenberg told the gathering that it took more than 11 months for the Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden to get the city a draft agreement after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland came to Kentucky in 2023 to discuss the police department's civil rights violations. Greenberg said the city at that time offered to provide an initial draft of a consent decree. 'They insisted that they would provide us with the first draft. Notwithstanding our weekly requests (of) when that draft was coming, we got the first draft of the consent decree 11 and a half months later,' Greenberg said. 'So we waited basically a year to see a first draft of the consent decree after Attorney General Garland came to our city.' Trump Justice Department moves to end consent decree aimed at reforming policing in Louisville The agreement was announced in December 2024, the month before President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term. In May, the Trump administration's U.S. Department of Justice pulled back from the consent decree, saying such actions are 'handcuffing local leaders.' The consent decree came in response to the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman, and a subsequent federal investigation that exposed a pattern of constitutional violations by Louisville police. Taylor's mother criticized the mayor, Louisville Public Media reported in May, accusing him of 'dragging his feet' on the issue. Louisville Metro Council member J.P. Lyninger, a Democrat, also has voiced disappointment with Democrat Greenberg's administration. 'The findings were announced two years ago,' he told Louisville Public Media last month. 'If we had more speedily entered into agreement with the Department of Justice, this would already be on the books and we wouldn't be talking about this today.' A consent decree is a negotiated agreement that avoids a trial by spelling out requirements that a federal judge signs and enforces. On Wednesday, Greenberg said, 'Louisville Metro government was not the reason why this took time.' Instead, he said, the police department and city had 'worked day and night with getting this done as their primary focus.' Humphrey agreed, saying there are 'a lot of things that could be improved about that process' at the federal level to expedite the consent decree process. The federal government, Humphrey said, was 'more concerned with protecting the case than they were with improving the police department.' On the same day the Trump administration moved to let LMPD off the hook for reform, Greenberg and Humphrey announced the city would move forward with its own Community Commitment, a 214-page handbook with goals similar to those outlined in the proposed consent decree. 'If we were using delay as a negotiating tactic, we would not have voluntarily signed the community commitment within hours of the Department of Justice announcing they were dropping the case,' Greenberg said at the Louisville Forum. 'It would have been a very different response.' Under the Community Commitment, the city will issue a request for proposals (RFP) seeking candidates to fill the role of an independent monitor. The public will be able to weigh in on monitor candidates via an online survey and at community listening sessions. The independent monitor will cost Louisville around $750,000, Greenberg said, and will have a five-year contract. 'We have our community commitment that we're moving forward with, and so … looking back at what the federal government did or didn't do is a waste of time, in all honesty,' Humphrey said. 'Let's move forward and … make this community better.' The city has several listening sessions already scheduled where the public can weigh in on reforms. 'I encourage you to be a part of the solution,' Greenberg said. 'It's very easy to criticize, it's very easy to observe and talk to friends. We want (people) across the community to be a part of the solution.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
