Columbus man gets 50 years in prison for multiple sex crimes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A 56-year-old Columbus man arrested as part of a statewide human trafficking investigation may spend the next five decades in prison.

According to federal prosecutors, Anthony Sims, a previously convicted sex offender, was sentenced to serve 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple sex crimes.

Sims’ guilty plea came less than two weeks before he was scheduled to face charges of sexually exploiting a minor and sex trafficking of a minor. For a previous report on this story view the video player above.

In 2020, Sims raped a 12-year-old girl 40-50 times over the course of six months, according to prosecutors. Sims provided the girl marijuana and alcohol before assaulting her, and at times forced her to pose for photos.

Sims also convinced another victim, a 13-year-old girl, to take drugs before assaulting and taking photos of her. He also took the girl to hotels and forced her to have sex with about 50 men, who paid Sims.

At the time of his arrest, Sims, who also sold pornographic photos of the second victim, was a registered sex offender with convictions for criminal sexual conduct with a victim under the age of 13 out of Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

Sime was arrested in October 2024 as part of a statewide human trafficking investigation in which over 130 people were arrested, including Terrance Cummings, a registered sex offender who traded drugs for sex acts with teens, John Hughes, who worked for the Ohio Treasurers Office and officiated high school athletics, and five others in the central Ohio area.