Metairie Man Sentenced to over 10 Years in Prison for Trafficking a Minor into New Orleans to Work as a Prostitute

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TORREY LEDELL DAVIS, age 44, who last resided in Metairie, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual activity.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance sentenced DAVIS to 121 months imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release.  Additionally, DAVIS is required to register as a sex offender pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Notification Act.

According to the court documents, in November 2012 DAVIS was contacted by an individual living in the Jackson, Mississippi area.  That individual inquired whether DAVIS would be willing to train the victim, who had just turned sixteen years old, to work as a prostitute.  DAVIS agreed, and on November 26, 2012, drove to the Scottish Inn in Jackson, Mississippi, picked up the victim, and drove her back to DAVIS’S residence in Metairie.  Once at the Metairie residence, DAVIS forced the victim to dress provocatively and pose for sexually suggestive photographs, which he saved on his computer.  The pictures were then used to create a prostitution advertisement on an online classified advertisement website often used to promote prostitution.  DAVIS instructed the victim how to work as a prostitute, how to solicit clients, and how to avoid being caught by law enforcement officials.  DAVIS also arranged for the victim to be paired with a female who had worked as a prostitute for DAVIS for approximately one year.  At DAVIS’s instruction, the female drove the victim to the French Quarter of New Orleans to work as a prostitute.  While in the French Quarter that evening, law enforcement officials arrested the minor for prostitution after an undercover officer arranged for the victim to perform a sexual act on the officer in exchange for $500.

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.”

The investigation was initiated by the New Orleans Police Department and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Louisiana State Police Special Victims Unit.  The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Jordan Ginsberg and K. Paige O’Hale.