Sex offender who pimped teen from jail to spend 22 more years behind bars
A convicted sex offender who collected earnings from a teenage prostitute while incarcerated was sentenced in Houston to serve more than two decades in federal prison for sex trafficking the girl.
Shackled in his orange jail uniform, Ronnie Gene Presley told U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett that he’d “made an awful mistake” and he “knew better.” The 45-year-old said he wanted to be around to be involved with his children and grandchildren. Federal public defender Ashley Kaper argued her client was not “only a pimp” but a more complex individual.
But federal prosecutor Sherri Zack had a different take. Presley’s choice was not a mistake, she argued.
“He is a pimp,” she said. “This is what he did: He made his money off the backs of little girls. This is not someone who should have the benefit of the doubt.”
The judge sentenced him to 22½ years in a federal lockup to be followed by 20 years of supervised release.
While Presley will be in his late 80s by the time he’s free from court supervision, Bennett noted that he did not hand down a life sentence.
“One of the things that cannot be fully compensated is the youth of this minor,” the judge said.
Presley admitted at a March hearing to trafficking the 17-year-old. The minor victim entered into deferred adjudication for trafficking 14- and 15-year-old girls involved in the case on the notorious Bissonnet Track. And Presley’s cousin, Jamine Lake, who pleaded guilty to concealing information about the trafficking scheme, is serving a three-year term.
Presley, whose nickname is “Pimpin,” was sentenced to eight years in prison for a 2012 conviction for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking as well as coercing and enticing and transporting a victim.
He was indicted on similar federal charges while free on supervised release in 2017. Presley violated the terms of his release on the 2012 case and was given an 11-month term.
During his incarceration on that shorter sentence, Presley effectively pimped a minor female through jail calls and communications with several people. He kept tabs on the teen girl instructing her to put money on his commissary account at the detention facility where he was being held.