BALTIMORE, Maryland—A soldier from Chillicothe pleaded guilty Thursday to running a sex and drug operation from his apartment near his military base at Fort Meade. Three other Chillicothe men were involved in the operation which drew its customers from ads on Craigslist, YouTube, and MySpace.

Craig Allen Corey II, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday. The three co-conspirators pleaded guilty last month.

According to information released from a plea agreement by federal authorities in Maryland, Corey’s operation was traced back to January of 2009 when he traveled from his Army assignment in Maryland to Chillicothe and the surrounding area, recruiting women to become prostitutes. At least 12 were identified, at least one as young as 16 years of age.

The prosecution said Corey received a percentage of proceeds from the prostitution earnings, amounting to thousands of dollars a week. He spent the money on drugs, electronics, clothes, and car accessories. The indictment says that Corey gave the prostitutes drugs to motivate them to work, and was aware women who refused to turn over their prostitution earnings were beaten.

Corey faces 15 years to live in prison on each of two counts for sex trafficking by force; a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison for sex trafficking of a minor; a maximum of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute drugs, the distribution of BZP and enticement to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution; five years in prison for conspiracy to prostitute. Sentencing will be April 28, 2010.

Jacob Tyler, 23, Robert Harris, 21, and Richard Johnson, 23, all of Chillicothe will be sentenced April 30, 2010.

The case was investigated by the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offende