Woman in sex case gets out of lockup
Judge sentences her to time served
A Tennessee woman indicted as part of a sex trafficking conspiracy that involved attempting to force a Pope County girl into prostitution was sentenced to time served and allowed to go free Thursday following her appearance for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker.
Victoriah Cartier, 23, of Memphis, pleaded guilty Aug. 25 to a superseding information charging her with misprision of a felony in exchange for the dismissal of a superseding indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, which reduced her possible maximum sentence from life in prison to a maximum of three years. She has been detained in federal custody since March 2022.
According to court records, on Sept. 8, 2020, the Pope County sheriff ’s office contacted the FBI Little Rock field office for assistance with an investigation regarding a 17-year-old Pope County girl who had gone to Memphis on a “girls’ trip” with three adults, including Cartier and the lead defendant in the case, 23-year-old Alexus Harris of Little Rock, and was being held against her will because she refused to prostitute for Harris.
According to a 35-page criminal complaint filed in federal court by the FBI, one of the victims — a minor — referred to as “MV1,” told police that she had ridden with Harris and two other women — one of whom was later identified as Cartier — to Memphis on Sept. 2 on what she thought was to be a girls’ trip. After arriving at a Memphis hotel, however, MV1 told police that Harris told her and the two women that they were there to prostitute for her and forced them to walk the streets for two consecutive days.
At the hotel room when she arrived, MV1 told police, were Shatanna James and Paul Williams — also named in the superseding indictment — who were identified to her as Harris’ “security team.” After MV1 refused to prostitute, the complaint said, Harris and the others attempted to extort money from her family and friends, which prompted a family member to call the police.
During the time she was being held, the complaint said, MV1’s friends and family members were subjected to phone calls and video calls from her abductors demanding money while they smothered her with pillows, pistol-whipped her or pointed guns at her head.
The complaint said she was finally freed when her captors left her alone long enough for her to make her way down to the hotel parking lot where she asked a man to take her to a hotel in West Memphis. There, the complaint said, police were called, and MV1 was taken to a Memphis hospital where family members picked her up on Sept. 4.
A second victim, identified as “K.D.” in the indictment, was present on the trip to Memphis and told police that she was forced to assault MV1 and to engage in prostitution.
In addition to time served, Baker ordered Cartier to serve one year on supervised release.
The remaining defendants in the case, Harris, her twin brother Reginald, D’Angelo “Dlow” Willis, James and Williams, are scheduled for trial June 17, 2024, in Baker’s courtroom.
Alexus Harris, Reginald Harris, and Paul Williams are being held in federal custody while awaiting trial. Shatanna James and D’Angelo Willis are free on pretrial release.