A federal judge on Tuesday sent an Oklahoma man to federal prison for more than six years for pimping out a young Ohio girl at Pittsburgh hotels four years ago in a case that highlights the prevalence of sex trafficking here and across the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon imposed a term of 78 months on Oscar Carter, 38, formerly of Tulsa and Forth Worth, Texas.
Carter had pleaded guilty this summer to violating the Mann Act by transporting a minor, a 17-year-old girl who has since died, across state lines in 2018 to serve as a prostitute.
His prostitute girlfriend, Shelby Brown, had previously been sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison for her role in the conspiracy. She claimed she was the girl’s caretaker, but prosecutors said she helped her boyfriend pimp the victim.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi Grogan said a significant sentence for Carter and others like him is “critical to drying up the market and decreasing the demand for children in the commercial sex business.”
According to the FBI and local police, Carter and Brown advertised her on backpage.com and then had her perform sex acts at hotels on Banksville Road and in Cranberry.
The pair had met the girl at a Waffle House in Akron where she worked. She agreed to travel with them to Pittsburgh to be a hooker.
The three drove to Pittsburgh in March 2018, and she spent three weeks working as a prostitute and turning over her earnings to Carter, whom she knew by his street name, “Unique.”
The conspiracy came undone when a Pittsburgh police detective working a prostitution detail arranged to meet the girl on March 14, 2018, after answering the backpage ad.
After her arrest, Carter called her. Police turned his number over to the FBI. Agents then tracked it to Carter and set up surveillance at a Cranberry hotel where he and Brown were staying.
Cranberry police took them into custody on March 15. Inside their car, the FBI found a log book with all of the girl’s prostitution dates.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Bissoon ordered that Carter be on probation for 15 years.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
