A pimp in Texas who recruited teenage girls on Facebook and posted profanity-laced videos boasting of ill-gotten profits — his “ho money” — has been sentenced to life in prison.
Allen Nash, 31, was sentenced Friday after being convicted of sex trafficking of children and other crimes in April, the Department of Justice announced. Nash’s two victims told jurors during a four-day trial that he forced them to work in the sex trade in and around Dallas beginning in late 2014 after promising them a better life.
“I was a vulnerable little girl in need of guidance,” the 17-year-old victim, now 22, said in a victim impact statement read Friday in court. “I was desperate for help. Allen Nash knew that. I think it’s safe to say the devil lives in him.”
But instead of a more comfortable lifestyle, Nash teamed up with the owner of a massage parlor called the “Doll House,” where he demanded that they work long hours while confiscating their proceeds and using threats of violence to keep them from leaving, prosecutors said.
When one of his victims fell asleep in a motel room, Nash dragged her out of bed and slammed her head into a toilet, shattering the seat with her skull. The attack was intended to serve as a warning of what punishment could await them if they didn’t comply with his demands or earn enough money.
Evidence shown during Nash’s trial revealed that he recruited the 17-year-old victim via Facebook, where he promised her gifts and trips. On one occasion, Nash picked up the teen victim at her mother’s apartment in a Mercedes-Benz before taking her to meet a customer who paid for sex, prosecutors said.
Nash also regularly boasted about his “ho money” in garish videos on social media showing him with wads of cash. Prosecutors said Nash and two people from the massage parlor — owner Connie Su Moser and manager Kum Shugars — set up the illicit trysts on Backpage.com, where the meetings were disguised as “body rub” treatments.
“Preying on vulnerable young women is despicable, and this sentence validates that important message,” said Nealy Cox, US attorney for the Northern District of Texas. “I’m proud of the women who came forward to help us bring Mr. Nash to justice.”
Moser, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges in July 2017, was later sentenced to eight years in prison. Authorities seized more than $1 million in assets from Moser, including $400,000 in cash, $70,000 in a bank account and a 2015 Lexus, all of which were determined by a court to be proceeds from the criminal operation.
Shugars testified at Nash’s trial and received a prison sentence of more than two years after pleading guilty to racketeering, prosecutors said.
