News
Teen Sex Ring Prostitution Mastermind Pleads Guilty
Published: Sep 01, 2003 - 01:42 AM
DETROIT -- The mastermind of a multistate sex ring that enslaved underage girls from Ohio to Wisconsin pleaded guilty Thursday, leaving just two men to stand trial on similar charges.
Chicago resident Henry Charles Davis faces at least 18 years and nine months in prison under a plea agreement that spares him from federal prosecution.
Chicago resident Henry Charles Davis faces at least 18 years and nine months in prison under a plea agreement that spares him from federal prosecution.
The other two men -- Terrell Norman, 44, and Marco Smith, 19, -- are scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday. They are weighing similar plea agreements.
So far, 10 others already have acknowledged their roles in the sex ring, which made national headlines in January when a kidnapped Cleveland girl escaped her captors and exposed an underworld of underage prostitutes at illicit nightclubs in Detroit.
At least 40 females -- some of them teen-agers -- have told investigators they were abducted or tricked into joining a sex ring headed by Davis, 33. Anyone who disobeyed Davis' orders was beaten by the others and threatened with torture, police have said.
The case has shed light on the evolving world of prostitution, where increasingly younger women and girls are often forced into the sex trade.
"With AIDS, men believe the younger the girl, the less chance they have of getting a disease," said Wayne County assistant prosecutor Lisa Lindsey, who headed the Davis case. "Girls were disappearing in this city for years, and no one cared. ... Most people don't know this is going on, and not just here."
Investigators said the sex ring operated in Detroit since 1995, with Davis leading a caravan of men who helped keep order and women who sold imitation jewelry by day and turned tricks by night. While Davis and others hailed from Chicago, they traveled to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Gary, Ind., records show. But Detroit, with its many "blind pig" nightclubs, was their most popular destination, Lindsey said.
For years, sex-ring members stayed in assorted motels. By last fall, the group rented a house on Detroit's east side. That's where police arrested Davis and some of the others on Jan. 13.
Over the years, Detroit police had sporadic tips about a sex ring headed by a man known as "Chicago" and "Tony," but could never connect it to anyone.
Wayne County sheriff's deputies might have shut down the sex ring last year with several planned raids of the Club Matador, a blind pig on East Warren described by a deputy as a "paradise of hell" for the rampant prostitution and drug use there.
But Detroit police scuttled the raids when their officers intervened and issued only minor ordinance violations.
The Detroit News first reported in February that Davis and at least five others later linked to the sex ring were at the Matador during a September 2002 raid. They were ticketed at the scene, but the Detroit police who were investigating reports about the Chicago sex ring at that time weren't told about the impromptu raid.
The sex ring abducted at least two more women before it was stopped in January.
One of them, a 17-year-old from Cleveland, was kidnapped off that city's streets and taken to Wisconsin and raped. The girl escaped with the help of a Hamtramck shoe store security guard who heeded her pleas for help.
The girl is now one of the dozens of former sex slaves struggling to cope with their ordeal, Lindsey said. "The effect of what they went through is going to be manifesting itself for years to come," she said.
Jamal D. Rivers, 18, will serve five to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct. Demesio Lee, 24, is expected to serve 11-20 years behind bars, according to his plea agreement. Makiya Means, 27, will serve 10-17 years under her sentencing agreement.
Brittany Crawford, 18, and Shyla Valentine will serve at least one year in prison for enticing a female under 16 into the sex ring.
Meanwhile, Detroit police suspect the sex slave industry continues.
"Are they out there? I would say yes," said Sgt. James Tolbert. "But any time you investigate one, it's like a workbook into others. You learn from your successes."
So far, 10 others already have acknowledged their roles in the sex ring, which made national headlines in January when a kidnapped Cleveland girl escaped her captors and exposed an underworld of underage prostitutes at illicit nightclubs in Detroit.
At least 40 females -- some of them teen-agers -- have told investigators they were abducted or tricked into joining a sex ring headed by Davis, 33. Anyone who disobeyed Davis' orders was beaten by the others and threatened with torture, police have said.
The case has shed light on the evolving world of prostitution, where increasingly younger women and girls are often forced into the sex trade.
"With AIDS, men believe the younger the girl, the less chance they have of getting a disease," said Wayne County assistant prosecutor Lisa Lindsey, who headed the Davis case. "Girls were disappearing in this city for years, and no one cared. ... Most people don't know this is going on, and not just here."
Investigators said the sex ring operated in Detroit since 1995, with Davis leading a caravan of men who helped keep order and women who sold imitation jewelry by day and turned tricks by night. While Davis and others hailed from Chicago, they traveled to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Gary, Ind., records show. But Detroit, with its many "blind pig" nightclubs, was their most popular destination, Lindsey said.
For years, sex-ring members stayed in assorted motels. By last fall, the group rented a house on Detroit's east side. That's where police arrested Davis and some of the others on Jan. 13.
Over the years, Detroit police had sporadic tips about a sex ring headed by a man known as "Chicago" and "Tony," but could never connect it to anyone.
Wayne County sheriff's deputies might have shut down the sex ring last year with several planned raids of the Club Matador, a blind pig on East Warren described by a deputy as a "paradise of hell" for the rampant prostitution and drug use there.
But Detroit police scuttled the raids when their officers intervened and issued only minor ordinance violations.
The Detroit News first reported in February that Davis and at least five others later linked to the sex ring were at the Matador during a September 2002 raid. They were ticketed at the scene, but the Detroit police who were investigating reports about the Chicago sex ring at that time weren't told about the impromptu raid.
The sex ring abducted at least two more women before it was stopped in January.
One of them, a 17-year-old from Cleveland, was kidnapped off that city's streets and taken to Wisconsin and raped. The girl escaped with the help of a Hamtramck shoe store security guard who heeded her pleas for help.
The girl is now one of the dozens of former sex slaves struggling to cope with their ordeal, Lindsey said. "The effect of what they went through is going to be manifesting itself for years to come," she said.
Jamal D. Rivers, 18, will serve five to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct. Demesio Lee, 24, is expected to serve 11-20 years behind bars, according to his plea agreement. Makiya Means, 27, will serve 10-17 years under her sentencing agreement.
Brittany Crawford, 18, and Shyla Valentine will serve at least one year in prison for enticing a female under 16 into the sex ring.
Meanwhile, Detroit police suspect the sex slave industry continues.
"Are they out there? I would say yes," said Sgt. James Tolbert. "But any time you investigate one, it's like a workbook into others. You learn from your successes."
