BALTIMORE, MD—A Baltimore businessman who paid $90,000 for sex has been sentenced to federal prison.
On Monday, Charles “Chuck” Nabit, 66, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for transportation of an individual to engage in prostitution. The judge also ordered Nabit to pay a fine of $55,000 and a special assessment of $5,100.
Nabit, who owns residences and resides in Bethany Beach, Delaware and Deerfield Beach, Florida, is the owner of Westport Group, LLC and previously owned Mountain Manor Treatment Center, a comprehensive drug treatment center. As agreed to in the plea agreement, Nabit regularly paid money for commercial sex with women that he knew regularly used narcotics or were severely addicted to narcotics, including one victim who died from a drug overdose, and another victim that Nabit supplied with cocaine.
The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Chief Lisa Myers of the Howard County Police Department.
“Charles Nabit paid thousands of dollars for commercial sex with victims that he knew were addicted to narcotics, including one woman that he personally supplied with cocaine and another who died from an overdose. Rather than use his abundant resources to help these victims, Nabit perpetuated their victimization for his own gratification,” said Lenzner. “One would hope that a businessman with means who previously owned a drug treatment center would help these victims rather than further their drug addiction and reliance on commercial sex. Charles Nabit not only violated federal law, he also used his wealth and stature to gratify himself while perpetuating the victimization of these women.”
“The sentencing today serves as a bittersweet moment for the victims of Charles Nabit’s reprehensible actions,” said Mancuso. “HSI is proud to have partnered with the Howard County Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s office to hold Mr. Nabit accountable for his crimes.”
According to his guilty plea, beginning in 2017 until his arrest on June 10, 2020, Nabit regularly paid for commercial sex, including in at least 52 payments via Cash App to an adult man who has been charged with sex trafficking. The seven women whom Nabit admitted he paid for commercial sex (Victims 1 through 7) either regularly used narcotics or suffered from serious substance abuse disorders during the time periods in which Nabit engaged in commercial sex with them.
Nabit admitted that from August 2018 to May 2020, he paid at least $90,000, as well as an additional unknown amount of cash, to women with whom he had commercial sex. This includes 52 Cash App transactions to an individual who he knew to be someone other than the victim he was seeing for commercial sex. For example, on April 11, 2019, Nabit received a message from the Cash App account registered to De’Angelo Johnson requesting $140 for “coming thru on a good girl and a hot girl.” The victim, Victim 1, had requested that Nabit pay her directly, sending a message to Nabit’s CashApp account, but Nabit refused to pay her and sent $145 payment to the Cash App account registered to Johnson with a message indicating the payment was “for (the first name of Victim 1).” De’Angelo Johnson has been charged in federal court with sex trafficking in a separate indictment and is scheduled for trial beginning in March 2022.
As detailed in his plea agreement, Nabit regularly transported victims to and from his Baltimore office for commercial sex, either in his vehicle or by using a rideshare car service. In separate encounters with Victim 1, Victim 3, and Victim 5, Nabit also recorded their sex acts with a Go Pro camera despite their objections to being filmed. Nabit was aware of Victim 5’s substance abuse as she discussed her struggles with addiction and depression. Nabit knew that, more than likely, some of the money provided to Victim 5 was being used to fund her drug use.
According to the plea agreement, beginning no later than February 2019, Nabit began seeing Victim 6 for commercial sex and travel dates. She discussed her addiction struggles with Nabit on several occasions. During their sexual encounters, Nabit provided Victim 6 with monetary payment and cocaine. For example, Nabit paid $5,000 to Victim 6 for her to accompany him to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and engage in commercial sex. During that trip, Nabit also provided Victim 6 with cocaine. Nabit also traveled with Victim 6 to a hotel in Richmond, Virginia on at least three separate occasions to engage in commercial sex. Victim 6 was paid at least $1,000 in cash for one of these trips. Hotel records revealed multiple overnight stays by Nabit between August 2019 and March 2020.
Until her death in May 2019, Nabit admitted that he also regularly engaged in commercial sex with Victim 7. Victim 7 repeatedly discussed her drug addiction in text messages with Nabit and expressed to Nabit her desire to obtain treatment for her substance abuse. Specifically, on August 13, 2018, Victim 7 told Nabit she completed an application for Mountain Manor Treatment Center and Nabit replied, “As you recall, I used to own MM and my ex-partner still does.” Nabit and Victim 7’s mother spoke on several occasions about Victim 7’s drug use. For example, on August 18, 2018, Nabit texted Victim 7’s mother about Victim 7 going to drug rehabilitation. Nabit stated that Victim 7 began using opiates again but that “she seemed to handle crack ok for weeks.” On May 23, 2019, Victim 7’s mother informed Nabit that Victim 7 had overdosed on drugs and died.
On December 9, 2019, Nabit and his attorney met with investigators for an interview in relation to a sex trafficking investigation involving alleged sex trafficker De’Angelo Johnson and Victims, 1, 2, 3, and 4. During this interview Nabit was asked whether he was aware that the sex trafficking victims were drug users. He was shown pictures of four victims and claimed to have only been aware of one victim’s drug use. He also claimed he had never seen signs of drug use in the remaining victims, as he had owned a drug treatment facility for 10 years and he would have recognized signs of drug use.
Nabit was arrested on June 10, 2020, and law enforcement executed federal search warrants for his person, his electronics, his Baltimore office, and his vehicle. Law enforcement recovered numerous sex toys and filming equipment, including five Go Pro cameras, from Nabit’s office. Nabit’s office also had a large sectional sofa that converted to a bed which had a sheet on it.
A forensic analysis of Nabit’s cell phone and Go Pro cameras recovered numerous messages related to commercial sex as well as images and videos of victims engaging in commercial sex with Nabit.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels
