LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) – A New Jersey man has been sentenced to a minimum of 55-and-a-half years in state prison for his role in a human trafficking case.

52-year-old Barry “Bear” Schiff was sentenced on Thursday following several delays, although police say he remained in custody throughout.

Authorities say the case involved drugs, violence, and threats to control young women who were coerced into prostitution across southeastern Pennsylvania.

Schiff’s co-defendant, Kenneth J. Crowell, 36, was sentenced in February.

Authorities said Crowell and Schiff used drugs and the false promise of easy money to recruit young women for their commercial sex ring. They said when the victims tried to leave, the pair used violence and threats of violence to keep them working as prostitutes against their will.

The ring operated in Lancaster, Montgomery, Philadelphia and York counties and southern New Jersey from 2014 until October 2017.