Prison sentence 5-plus years for man in prostitution case

FAYETTEVILLE — A Springdale man was sentenced Friday to federal prison on prostitution charges.

Antonio “TBoi” Nash, 23, was sentenced to five years and 10 months, to be followed by five years of supervised release on one count of transporting an individual to engage in prostitution. U.S. District Judge Tim Brooks presided over the sentencing.

Officers with the Springdale Police Department found a 17-year-old girl naked with a man in a hotel room in January 2015, according to court records. The girl told police that she was recruited on Facebook just before Christmas 2014 by a pimp named “Tboi,” who was later identified as Nash.

The girl told police that Nash picked her up at her home in Missouri, drove her to Springdale and introduced her to two women who explained to her how to be an escort. She said Nash helped her create an online advertisement on Backpage.com, and she started working for him.

The girl said Nash gave her marijuana as payment, and initially let her keep some of the money she made from the sexual encounters, but later he took all of the money she made.

Homeland Security Department investigators obtained a search warrant for Nash’s Facebook account, and the records corroborated the statements of the girl.

A search warrant was issued May 26 for Nash’s residence. Nash admitted to being in the business of facilitating sexual encounters for money and, specifically, to recruiting and transporting the 17-year-old girl.

Nash was indicted by a federal grand jury in June and pleaded guilty in October.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Roberts prosecuted the case.