A convicted Texas pimp who operated out of the Fort Worth area will spend the rest of his life in federal prison for the sex trafficking of underage girls.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors announced that Demarcus Davis, 26, also known as “Zigg,” was sentenced to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor this week.
During a four-day trial in April, the prosecution described Davis as a violent pimp who “recruited, controlled, and profited off underage female victims for commercial sex acts.” Davis and co-defendants Herman “Pooh” Sanders, 29, and Pierre “P” or “Pedro” Lagrone, 34, were found guilty for their roles in a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children. Previously, O’Connor sentenced Lagrone to life in prison and Sanders, to 35 years behind bars.
Another co-defendant, Bruce “Wheatie” Davis pleaded guilty to obstruction of enforcement earlier on in this case. Prosecutors said he threatened to harm one of the minors known as Jane Doe 2, members of her family, and her one-year-old child. “Wheatie” believed Jane Doe 2 was cooperating with the government in the case against the traffickers. In May, O’Connor sentenced him to five years in prison.
Press releases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas stated that evidence prosecutors presented revealed Davis and Lagrone recruited and advertised scantily clad or nude photographs online of female minor sex workers. The men communicated with potential clients and paid for motel rooms, lubricants, condoms, and other supplies. Lagrone and Davis pocketed almost all, if not all, of the money the girls earned from performing sex acts. The men provided only food, shelter, and occasional clothing to their victims. Sanders conspired with and assisted Lagrone in the sex trafficking venture.
Last October, their illicit business was shut down when Davis, Lagrone, Sanders, and five other suspects were arrested on child sex trafficking charges, according to a federal criminal complaint.
A March 2017 affidavit filed with the criminal complaint stated that the Fort Worth Police Department’s Vice Unit conducted a recovery operation in response to a lead sent to them by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about a suspected child sex trafficking victim referred to as Jane Doe 1. The Vice Unit located her using a Backpage.com ad which contained photographs of the girl advertising sex services. As a result of this operation, Fort Worth Vice recovered Jane Doe 1. They also found Jane Doe 2 and another underage female, Jane Doe 3, in a closet located in Jane Doe 1’s motel room.
Since the time of this police sting, the FBI shut down Backpage.com, a website that specialized in sex-related classified ads. Federal authorities contended that sexually exploited children were among the site’s victims. In April 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted the website’s founders, then, the company pleaded guilty to Texas human trafficking charges in a state district court. Its CEO also pleaded guilty to money laundering.
This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), and the Fort Worth, Tyler, and Arlington Police Departments.
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