Trafficker released, guilty plea accepted
W. Memphis woman free till sentence
A Crittenden County woman who pleaded guilty May 2 to one count of sex trafficking of a minor returned to court Thursday for a new plea hearing after testing positive for drug use.
Victoria McClure, 30, of West Memphis, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 6, 2021, on one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and two counts each of sex trafficking. Also named in the indictment were Rickey Lee Gaines, 36, also of West Memphis, Bryan Donaldson, 53, of Proctor, and Randle Blair, 68, of Earle.
The three men were also indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking, and all four defendants were scheduled to go to trial May 6 before U.S. District Judge Brian Miller in federal court in Helena-West Helena.
McClure and Gaines pleaded guilty May 2 to a charge of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor contained in a superseding of information in exchange for dismissal of the indictment against them. Had they been convicted at trial, each could have faced a minimum 10 year prison term with a possible maximum life sentence.
Following the May 2 hearing, Gaines was returned to the ADC Delta Regional Unit, where he is serving time on a parole violation.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller had initially ruled that McClure could remain on pre-trial release, but following the hearing she tested positive for drug use. Because she had arrived late to the May 2 hearing, Miller allowed her to enter a plea before reporting to the U.S. Probation Office to be screened for drug use, but ordered her jailed after he was informed she had tested presumptively positive for cocaine and marijuana.
The case began Jan. 9, 2021, when police in West Memphis discovered an 18-year-old girl with no identification wandering in the parking lot of a West Memphis Walmart Supercenter asking for help. When police arrived, according to Crittenden County Circuit Court records, she told them she had been sexually assaulted. The girl told police she had been kicked out of her home in Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 11, 2020 — about six weeks prior to her 18th birthday — and had accepted a ride with a couple who told her they were going to Tennessee, court records said.
According to court records, the girl, identified only as “B.W.”, was dropped off in West Memphis to stay with Gaines and McClure. After about three weeks, records said, McClure took B.W. to a law office where she was made to have sex with a man she identified as “Bryan,” for which she said McClure was given $120.
About two weeks later, the girl said in a police interview, she and McClure went to a laundromat where they were picked up by a man named “Randy,” whom she said Gaines and McClure referred to as “Red Truck,” because of the red pickup truck he drove. She said the man drove them to a hotel in West Memphis next to a Burger King restaurant where he had sex with her.
According to the interview transcript, the girl said she escaped from Gaines and McClure on Jan. 9, 2021, through an exit she discovered had been left unlocked after the two left her unattended for a time.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristin Bryant and John Ray White entered a motion on April 30 to dismiss the indictment against Donaldson and Blair in exchange for their agreements to plead guilty to state charges in the matter, which Miller granted the following day.
After being in jail for a week, McClure was returned to court Thursday, where Miller announced she had once again tested positive for marijuana use.
“My understanding of chronic marijuana use is that it can stay in your system as long as 30 days,” he said. “If you entered your plea (a week ago) while you were high or you didn’t understand what was going on, I can’t let that plea stand. … Did you understand what I was saying to you last (week)?”
“Yes sir, I wasn’t high at all,” McClure said. “It was just still in my system, I guess, but I wasn’t under the influence. I was in my right mind.”
McClure’s attorney, Darrell Brown Jr. of Little Rock, assured Miller that in his estimation, McClure was able to understand the proceedings the week before when she entered the plea.
At that, Miller accepted McClure’s plea from the previous week and at Brown’s request, agreed to release her from jail pending sentencing.
“She accepts the positive test,” Brown said. “She admits to having the substances at some point in time, in enough time for it to show up on her test.”
Brown said McClure has been on pre-trial release with no revocations, although he said she did test positive for marijuana use one time but not at a level that would trigger a revocation. He said, however, that McClure did admit drug use is an issue and said she had indicated she would like to enter a rehabilitation program.
“She does have anxiety,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s a reason for that but we were virtually on the eve of trial … I’m not saying that’s an excuse but it may have played a part.”
After receiving no objection from Bryant, Miller agreed to release her, but he warned her that one positive drug screen would land her back in jail.
“I don’t mind it but if you have another positive and we take you into custody,” he said, “you’re going to stay in custody until whatever sentence I give you is complete.”