Three New Jersey men have been charged in connection with the sex trafficking of a 13-year-old girl, the state Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday.
Mickael Derius, the alleged mastermind behind the trafficking scheme, is also accused of sex trafficking another child. The 30-year-old Newark resident is facing multiple charges including first-degree counts of human trafficking of a minor and promoting prostitution of a minor.
Derius and a second suspect, identified as Terry Nero, 44, are both charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault of a minor by aiding and abetting. Nero, of Elizabeth, is additionally charged with promoting prostitution of a minor in the second degree.
A third suspect, 29-year-old Jonathan Ramirez, of East Orange, is facing four counts of first-degree manufacturing and filming the sexual assault of a minor.
All three men were additionally charged with second-degree sexual assault of a minor and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
An investigation into the matter was launched back in August, after the teenage victim was reported missing. At the time, she had been in the custody of the New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency.
When authorities eventually located the girl, she told them she had been trafficked. She said she was walking home with a friend in Newark when Derius lured them both into his car.
“The victim and her friend were allegedly sexually assaulted by Derius and an unidentified adult male,” officials said. “Derius paid the minor victim $300.”
Derius allegedly went on to coerce the 13-year-old into meeting for sex on three separate occasions. He’s also accused of “setting the victim up on ‘plays’ with other men to perform commercial sex, including on one occasion, with co-defendant Nero,” the AG said.
Ramirez, meanwhile, told investigators he met the victim through social media in February 2025. He later sexually assaulted her and filmed the abuse, the state said, but it’s unclear if he knows the other two suspects.
