3 Lowcountry men embroiled in U.S. Department of Justice investigation | Beaufort County News

As a result of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, six people, including three Lowcountry residents, were arrested and face various human trafficking-related charges.

The case is one of several human trafficking-related cases that have rocked the Lowcountry in recent months.

An indictment unsealed in federal court in Boston accuses the six people – three South Carolina residents and three Massachusetts residents – of allegedly participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy that victimized two minors and one adult.

The defendants are accused of keeping all the profits for themselves and of maintaining control over the victims through threats and violence.

“It is hard to imagine conduct more heinous than that laid out in these indictments,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a press release. “Sex trafficking is not a far-off problem. It happens right here in our neighborhoods and often goes unnoticed or unreported.”

Alexander Smalls, a 25-year-old resident of Beaufort County, Tre’sean Reid, a 21-year-old resident of Beaufort County, and Tyreik Reid, a 20-year-old resident of Allendale County, were charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, sex trafficking of a minor, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

According to a Justice Department press release, Smalls and his 26-year-old girlfriend, Christy Parker of Fall River, Massachusetts, collaborated in a conspiracy to coerce an adult victim and two minor victims into engaging in commercial sex acts in Massachusetts and surrounding states for the sole purpose of financial gain. Smalls’ brothers, Tre’sean Reid and Tyreik Reid, and two other individuals were also involved in the conspiracy, the agency reported.

Parker was one of those indicted by the Justice Department.

Smalls and Parker are alleged to have forced their first victim, an adult woman, to quit her job and engage in paid sex after the couple moved in with the victim in early 2023. They are alleged to have planned and coordinated paid sex acts with the victim, set the prices, and kept all profits.