Prostitution ringleader gets 25 years

January 29, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man who helped operate a prostitution and money laundering ring that recruited underage girls and reached at least 15 states was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

Franklin Robinson, 39, of Toledo, had pleaded guilty in March 2007 to conspiracy and to inducing, enticing and coercing women to cross state lines to engage in prostitution.

Heidi Havens, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors in central Pennsylvania, described the ring as a confederacy in which Robinson was considered one of the most influential figures.

Robinson, also known as Michael Tucker, Silk and Silky Red, coordinated and controlled prostitution activity at truck stops and his advice was regularly followed, Havens said.

Authorities said the women were controlled by violence and intimidation. Robinson was quoted in his federal indictment as saying he had beaten a prostitute to the point where both of his hands were swollen. He also once threatened to cut the throat of a man he thought was causing trouble for one of his girls, according to the indictment.

The ring’s activities in Harrisburg were centered at a truck stop and went back at least to 2001. The investigation began with evidence of underage prostitution developed by a similar FBI probe in Oklahoma City, prosecutors said.

The federal indictment said at least nine of the ring’s prostitutes were underage girls when they were brought into the world of prostitution, and one was just 12 years old. It also said Robinson once paid $600 for a 17-year-old girl.

Other charges against Robinson were dropped when he was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane.

Robinson’s lawyer, Stephen F. Becker, said his client will appeal his sentence.

Becker said the court applied “enhancements” to sentencing guidelines and, based on what Robinson’s guilty plea, he should have been sentenced to 33 to 41 months.

Becker said the blame goes well beyond the legal system.

“This case is another example of how the political and legal system has decided to deal with society’s failure to ameliorate the conditions in our inner cites that have resulted in the imprisonment of such a large percentage of the black male population,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Becker said both Robinson and the women who worked with him were raised in heavy crime areas where prostitution and selling drugs were the norm.

Though Becker acknowledged there was some violence between his client and the women who worked for him, he said there was never any credible evidence that any woman serious injuries.

Fourteen co-defendants have already been sentenced in the case and one other awaits sentencing. The sentences have ranged from time served to 35 years.

Prosecutors said the ring operated in Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C.