A Columbus man who federal prosecutors say forced women into prostitution and participated in multiple financial frauds will spend the rest of his life in prison.
On Thursday, a jury convicted 42-year-old Ricco “Roscoe” Maye of the Northeast Side of 14 federal charges, including wire fraud, multiple conspiracy charges and fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking charges. He will be sentenced at a later date but faces a mandatory life sentence on a charge of selling a controlled substance causing the death of a person.
Maye was also convicted of conspiracy to tamper with or intimidate witnesses in his case.
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U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth Parker said in a statement that Maye is a “dangerous man” who coerced victims into participating in his criminal schemes with threats of violence and drug withdrawals.
“Maye oversaw a variety of criminal activities that victimized vulnerable populations, caused the death of one addicted individual, and obstructed justice in an ill-fated attempt to avoid accountability,” Parker said.
Prosecutors said Maye used several people to buy and sell drugs, keeping the proceeds for himself. He would also sell women for sex.
Maye started as a street dealer at least in 2018, court records show. He bought drugs, specifically cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine, from other sources in Ohio and elsewhere, then had people struggling with addiction sell the drugs for him throughout Columbus. Maye received cash, but also took other forms of payment, including Social Security numbers.
Court records show Maye would give women free drugs, but then use their addictions to manipulate them into prostitution to pay for the medications they needed. Maye arranged rides to hotel rooms, gave the women cell phones and then took all the money the women earned, punishing those who tried to question him with beatings and other physical violence.
Court records describe Maye’s “punishments” as including breaking bones and knocking out teeth.
According to court documents, Maye spoke to a man in November 2018, hours before taking a fatal overdose of fentanyl. That man had been a previous customer who bought cocaine. The man had wanted to buy cocaine from Maye the day he overdosed, court records show, but was given fentanyl instead.
Additionally, Maye submitted a fraudulent online application for relief money during the COVID-19 pandemic, pocketing more than $30,000, according to court records.
Maye was initially arrested in November 2020 and has been in federal custody since then. While in custody, prosecutors said he tried to tamper with witnesses or disrupt the investigation. According to court records, this included threatening to kill a prosecution witness by asking someone to mix rat poison with fentanyl and give it to the witness.
Court records also show Maye called other people involved in the case, including potential witnesses, to find out who had spoken to police. He also urged people involved in the case to use his Facebook account to contact others and try to prevent them from cooperating with any investigation.
Maye will be formally sentenced at a later date.
bbruner@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Federal jury convicts Columbus man of drug and sex trafficking
