SACRAMENTO— A pimp who used charm to recruit and brute force to control women is facing up to 15 years in prison for sex trafficking, officials said.After an 11-day trial, Percy Love III, 32, was convicted last week of three counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, one count of sex trafficking of a minor, and one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor.The sex trafficking involved five victims.Love has been in custody since his arrest and represented himself during trial.
U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley set sentencing for March, and officials said Love could get up to 15 years behind bars.
According to evidence, Love targeted vulnerable young women and underage girls to work as prostitutes for him since at least 2007.
Victims testimony indicted that there was a pattern of conduct where Love used charm to recruit and brute force to control the women and girls who worked for him.
According to court documents, on July 22, 2013, Sacramento police officers were called to a report of domestic violence and found Love asleep in the front seat of a car with a woman, whose sister had called in the report.
The woman explained to officers that she was in a “working relationship” with Love. She claimed that Love had beaten her many times, and she had bruises and cigarette burns on her hand, arm and stomach, court records indicated.
Love was arrested that night for domestic violence and possession of Ecstasy.
This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, a multi-jurisdictional task force composed of representatives from the FBI and the Sacramento Police Department.