Two people have received hefty prison sentences for their involvement in a child trafficking case.
R. Andrew Murray, district attorney for Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties, announced on Monday Jimmy Jamison, 55, of Hendersonville, was found guilty on May 18, 2023, of three counts of human trafficking of a child, three counts of statutory rape and two counts of statutory sex offense.
He received a combined minimum active sentence of 241 years and a maximum sentence of 330 years in prison.
Court trial records showed the victim involved in the case had previously moved to Rutherford County to live with her third cousin, Lee Ann Zimmerman, 55, when the victim was 13 years old. After the victim turned 14, Zimmerman began taking her to "various places in Henderson County to purchase illegal narcotics," the DA's press release says.
On one of these trips, the DA writes Jamison saw the 14-year-old victim and began sending text messages to Zimmerman, saying he wanted to have sex with the child. After being informed of the victim's age, Jamison continued sending texts, "offering the child marijuana and money if she would have sex with him."
Between the fall of 2019 and March 2020, records show Zimmerman drove the victim from Rutherford County to Henderson County "multiple times to be supplied with illegal narcotics, where the defendant, Jimmy Jamison, was permitted unsupervised access to the victim."
The DA's release says during these visits, Jamison committed multiple sexual crimes, occurring at his residence in the Dana community and at a motel in Hendersonville.
The victim told her stepsister about what had happened and authorities were contacted around April 2020.
The DA says Zimmerman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit human trafficking in Superior Court. She was sentenced on Monday to a minimum active sentence of 110 months (nine years) and a maximum sentence of 192 (16 years) in prison.
STORY & PHOTO COURTESY OF ABC 13 WLOSMan sentenced to more than 300 years in prison following child trafficking investigation | WLOS
