News

Dana man sentenced to 330 years in prison for human trafficking, sex with minor

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 22, 2023

A 55-year-old Hendersonville man was sentenced to 330 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of three counts of human trafficking of a child, three counts of statutory rape and two counts of statutory sex offense, District Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced.

Superior Court Judge William Coward presided over the trial and sentenced the defendant, Jimmy Jamison, on Thursday to at least 241 years and up to 330 years in prison.
According to court trial records, the victim moved to Rutherford County to live with her third cousin, Lee Ann Zimmerman, 55, when she was 13. After the victim turned 14, Zimmerman began taking her to various places in Henderson County to buy illegal narcotics, trial testimony showed.
On one trip with Zimmerman, Jamison saw the child and began sending text messages to Ms. Zimmerman, wanting to have sex with the girl. After being told by Zimmerman that the victim was 14, he continued to send text messages offering the child marijuana and money if she would have sex with him, according to the D.A.'s news release.
Between the fall of 2019 and March 2020, Ms. Zimmerman drove the victim from Rutherford County to Henderson County multiple times to be supplied with illegal narcotics and where Jamison was permitted unsupervised access to the victim. During these times, the defendant committed multiple sexual crimes at his residence in the Dana community and at a motel Hendersonville, trial testimony showed. The assaults stopped in April 2020 after the victim told her stepsister what was happening to her and authorities were alerted.
Lee Ann Zimmerman, who pleaded guilty in Superior Court to conspiracy to commit human tratticking, testified for the state in the charges against Jamison. Zimmerman was sentenced on Monday to up to 16 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Mundy and Beth Dieraut handled the prosecution and sentencing hearing in the case.