Pimp Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking

An Atlanta man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for sex trafficking, authorities say, after he advertised a 17-year-old homeless girl who was a refugee from Sierra Leone, West Africa, as a prostitute in online ads.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta says Steven E. Thompson, 44, a convicted felon who used the nickname “Silk,” has been sentenced to 25 years for sex trafficking of a minor by threats of force, fraud and coercion, conspiring to do the same, and inducing adult women to travel interstate for prostitution. His accomplice, Tierra Waters, whom Thompson abused and also forced to work as a prostitute, was sentenced to eight years for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor.

“These defendants exploited a 17-year-old girl from West Africa who desperately needed a place to live,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “The pair coerced the minor into engaging in prostitution at hotels and residences in Atlanta. Sex trafficking has no place in our society. And those who exploit vulnerable children in this way will face the kind of lengthy prison sentences that the defendants justly received today.”

When the juvenile met Thompson and Waters, she was living in Georgia without her parents, often homeless. In February 2011, her grandmother took custody of her, but soon left the country, leaving the teen to fend for herself.

In April 2011, Thompson and Waters offered to allow the girl to live with them while she waited to enter the Job Corps. Within weeks, the defendants told the girl that she must have sex with men to earn money or leave their condominium. Thompson and Waters kept all the girl’s earnings.

A witness who met the victim through online ads cooperated with investigators after he engaged in a commercial sex act with the teen. The witness then began receiving threatening text messages from Thompson warning that the girl was a minor and attempting to extort money from the witness, prosecutors said.

Thompson also advertised two adult women for prostitution in online ads between March and August 2011.

Thompson’s time in federal prison will be followed by ten years of supervised release. He must register as sex offender after his release from prison.

Waters, 30, of pleaded guilty on July 25, 2013, to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.