Richland man needs more time to ready defense on charges he recruited teen girl into prostitution

A Richland man charged with recruiting a teen girl into the commercial sex trade asked to postpone his federal trial until next spring.

John R. Abrams Jr., 51, said in a court filing that his lawyer hired an expert witness from New York, but it has been difficult for that man to arrange travel to Eastern Washington.

The expert needs to evaluate Abrams, review his background and any necessary medical documents, and write a report, Abrams wrote in the motion.

“I believe such testimony is critical to my defense,” Abrams said. He added that attorney Jeremy B. Sporn of Yakima needs more time to look into the way the investigation was launched and conducted.

Senior Judge Ed Shea recently granted the request to delay trial until April 16.

Abrams — who also goes by John R. Pine — is charged in U.S. District Court with coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of attempted child sex trafficking.

He previously was charged in Benton County Superior Court with second-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. That case was dismissed after he was indicted in July.

Abrams worked as a network administrator at Trios Health in Kennewick when he was arrested. He is being held in the Sunnyside jail while awaiting trial after a judge found he is a potential danger to the community and has an extensive history of failing to appear in court during prior criminal proceedings.

Court documents show that Abrams communicated online with the girl “about arranging to traffic her for sexual purposes and financial gain.”

Unlike other operations in which the suspect actually is chatting with an undercover cop, the girl on the other end in this case was a real teen who had been building a trust relationship with Richland Detective Athena Clark and later reached out for help.

Clark got copies of the electronic conversations, which included Abrams “instructing (the teen girl) how to dress, wanting to teach her bedroom etiquette, arranging a photo shoot for advertisement and making arrangements with a female client to purchase (the girl) for sexual purposes,” documents said.

The teen alleged that she also sent photos to Abrams that showed her partially naked.

Abrams eventually met the girl in person and sexually assaulted her, said police and court documents.

If convicted as charged, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

This story was originally published November 5, 2017 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Richland man needs more time to ready defense on charges he recruited teen girl into prostitution."