Where is James Jacobson from? Charges against recruiter for former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries explored
Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith, and another individual identified as James Jacobson, have been taken into custody on s*x trafficking charges. Jacobson's name is reportedly getting highlighted time and again in the international s*x trafficking indictment connecting to Jeffries.
Trigger warning: The article contains references to s*x trafficking. Readers' discretion is advised.
Jacobson, who belongs to western Wisconsin, was expected to make his court appearance on Tuesday, October 22. The New York FBI agents were assisted by the Barron County Sheriff's Department in order to arrest 71-year-old James Jacobson.
According to the officials, all the three men have been charged with s*x trafficking and at least 15 counts of interstate prostitution. Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald mentioned that the FBI had reached out to them for assistance in arresting Jacobson.
Fitzgerald are yet to determine how long Jacobson had been living in Rice Lake area. He further spoke about Jacobson, stating:
"He's been at fundraisers, at church functions, at different things. So, yeah, I think this is a big shock to our community. But he was a major player in this case, it appears, and he was living in our backyard."
The county sheriff also explained that until the arrest, he would have considered Jacobson as a "normal person." He continued:
"It doesn't matter much money you [have], how powerful you think you are, if you do wrong, you'll get caught."
James Jacobson was reportedly hired by Mike Jeffries and Matthew Smith, to allegedly find men to perform s*xual acts
The detailed indictment clarified that James Jacobson had the responsibility to allegedly "recruit, interview, and hire men to perform s*x acts." The indictment further claimed that he would often travel across the US and internationally, to recruit men for the aforementioned purposes.
The men allegedly had to engage in commercial s*xual act with Jacobson first, before getting recruited. The selected men were then reportedly sent to s*x events. According to the indictment, these men believed that they would get chances in modeling and it'd boost their career.
Country sheriff Fitzgerald spoke about this case, and mentioned:
"We all see those stickers in the bus stop and in the airport that says 'X, number of people are sex trafficked every day' and I think this is another wake up call."
The alleged actions by Mike Jeffries, Smith, and Jacobson, dated during the period between December 2008 and March 2015. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that according to documents, the men were not made aware of the "s*x events" while interviewing them.
Talking further about Jacobson's arrest, Chris Fitzgerald said:
"We were made aware a local resident was involved in s*x trafficking last week but we did not realize it was such a high-profile case involving Abercrombie until yesterday."
James Jacobson, who appeared in court on Tuesday, was released on $500,000 bond. On the other hand, Jeffries was freed on a bond of $10 million. Smith was detained after prosecutors claimed that he might leave the country since he had a dual citizenship (US-British).