NEW ORLEANS—U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TAUREAN JACKSON, age 26, from Dallas, who went by the nickname “Marvelous Rich,” was sentenced today for conspiring to trafficking a minor from the Dallas-area into the New Orleans-area for the purposes of that minor engaging in prostitution and obstruction of a federal investigation into his conduct.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan sentenced JACKSON to 270 months’ incarceration, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, and $1,750 in restitution. JACKSON was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, JACKSON created and distributed a radio program in the Dallas-area called “Cheap Hoes Gotta Go” that addressed the nuances of being a pimp. He also created and operated “Star City Vixens,” an escort agency that was a front for prostitution activity. Star City Vixens advertised “upscale adult entertainment” that would travel around the country to “major social events.” JACKSON initially recruited his “bottom” prostitute, ANDREA BIRDOW, to join “Star City Vixens,” in 2012. JACKSON became BIRDOW’s pimp and arranged for her to engage in sexual acts with others in exchange for money. Judge Morgan sentenced BIRDOW last week for her role in the offense.

JACKSON was responsible for advertising and scheduling prostitution calls with BIRDOW. JACKSON kept all, or most, of the proceeds from the prostitution calls. As a means of controlling BIRDOW’s behavior and ensuring her compliance, JACKSON beat and choked BIRDOW on multiple occasions, often in front of others. On several occasions, JACKSON also burned BIRDOW with lit cigarettes to discipline her.

In mid-June 2013, JACKSON and BIRDOW met the victim, who was then 16-years-old, in the Dallas-area and recruited her to begin working for JACKSON as a prostitute. As part of his recruitment process, JACKSON showed the victim a video he recorded and uploaded to Youtube.com that depicted the purportedly glamorous life of a prostitute and showed JACKSON and BIRDOW in a hotel room, riding in a stretch limousine, drinking champagne, and eating a heaping plate of nachos.

Over the course of the next several weeks, JACKSON drove BIRDOW and the victim throughout Texas and Louisiana for the purpose of BIRDOW and the victim engaging in prostitution, which JACKSON advertised, arranged, and scheduled using an online classified advertisement. JACKSON arranged for the victim to watch BIRDOW engage in prostitution acts as a means of educating her on the best way to perform sexual acts. JACKSON required BIRDOW and the victim to turn over all, or most, of the proceeds she earned from prostitution calls.

JACKSON disciplined BIRDOW in front of the victim and told the victim that he would do the same to her if she ever tried to leave him. JACKSON also beat the victim, including striking her across the legs and buttocks with an extension cord.

Ultimately, BIRDOW and the victim were arrested on July 10, 2013, in a Metairie hotel room by undercover law enforcement officers with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office who responded to an online classified advertisement offering a prostitution date.

“Jackson was a brazen sex trafficker who preyed on a vulnerable women and girls,” stated U.S. Attorney Polite. “Today’s significant sentence finally brings him to justice. It also continues our law enforcement community’s enhanced efforts in fighting human trafficking in our area.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office–Vice Division, with assistance from the FBI Dallas Child Exploitation Task Force, and the Dallas Police Department High Risk Victims Unit in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Jordan Ginsberg and Brandon Long are in charge of the prosecution.