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Cocoa bail bondsman accused of sex trafficking held without bail

Umito October 31, 2024

After a four-year investigation, the owner of a Cocoa bail bond company with offices throughout Central Florida was arrested on charges of trading bail bonds for several female inmates in exchange for sexual favors.

Russell Bruce Moncrief, owner of Moncrief Bail Bonds and known throughout the law enforcement community, was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Orange County Jail without bail. He was charged with three counts of human trafficking for commercial sexual activity, one count of racketeering and one count of using a two-way communications device to facilitate the commission of a crime. If convicted, the longtime bail bondsman faces 125 years in state prison.

Moncrief, 75, communicated with women held behind bars and offered bail in exchange for sex, investigators said. He also prostituted some women to his clients while dealing with pimps and other sex workers, according to court records.

Moncrief’s office in Cocoa, as well as others in Orange and Osceola counties, were raided by agents of the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation in early August. The Orlando-based MBI typically targets criminal organizations and human trafficking cases.

“The defendant used his position as bail bondsman to prey on women in the criminal justice system,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement released shortly after Moncrief’s arrest in Seminole.

“After releasing his victims from prison, he continued to use his power over them to sell the women for sex to others for his own financial gain. Working with MBI, we uncovered this sickening scheme and will prosecute the defendant for human trafficking and racketeering.

The investigation lasted several years

The investigation into Moncrief began in October 2021 following the April 2020 arrest of a 74-year-old man. Melbourne lawyer John Gillespiewho, according to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation in Orlando, operated a human trafficking sex ring dating back to 2002 and involving teenage victims as young as 15 years old.

State investigators say the connection between the Melbourne lawyer and the Cocoa bail bondsman — who, like others, played an integral role in the operation of Brevard’s criminal justice system — stemmed from sexual contact de Moncrief with the women involved with the former defense attorney.

MBI agents said Gillespie would offer to bond his clients while discreetly using Moncrief’s surety bonds — his company of choice, records show — with another person completing the paperwork.

A lawsuit filed by the Haba law firm in Orlando listed allegations that Gillespie used his position as an attorney to use paralegals to target teenage boys and young women attending the clubs for sexual activity and private sessions with men.

Gillespie, who sent letters to the court rejecting the allegations and saying Moody was using the case for “publicity,” was arrested on April 18, 2020, and the case was filed in Orange County. He was sentenced to six life terms, but was later found incompetent after pleading not guilty, according to Orange County court records.

MBI agents said Moncrief often threatened to revoke women’s bonds or violate their bonds as a form of fraud, force or coercion. Moncrief also sold some women for sex to others for financial gain, MBI agents reported. Agents said such allegations were common in areas where Moncrief operated.

A witness told investigators that the “prison girls” talked about how Moncrief forced them to perform sexual favors, using code words such as “wash your car” or “lick your eyebrows.” . One inmate, a dancer, told Moncrief, “I just want to get out, I’ll wash your car, I’ll lick your eyebrows, I’ll do you any favors you need from me,” MBI reports show.

No court date has been set for Moncrief.

JD Galop is a criminal justice and current affairs reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.