Staff file

A 56-page arrest warrant affidavit for three men who operated a prostitution enterprise out of a Tyler motel reveals a subculture of pimps, prostitutes and commercial sex act buyers operating in this city. This modern day sex trafficking operation was orchestrated entirely through smartphone apps and internet sites.

“The days of red light districts and finding a prostitute on the street corner are pretty much gone,” Tyler Police Department detective Gregory Harry said. “Most of these crimes are taking place online with cell phone apps and ads that are posted to webpages like Backpage.com.”

With Backpage being the most used way of selling sexual acts and soliciting prostitutes online in East Texas, police closely monitor the site. 

“There are usually about 20 ads on the page on any given weekend,” Harry said. “Most of the people are from out of town and they only stay from three to five days. This helps them avoid detection. The longer they stay the more susceptible they are to being caught.”

This particular group was exposed when a 17-year-old girl called 911 to report she had been brought to Tyler against her will by three men from Fort Worth.

The intense three month investigation revealed the group also was planning to recruit a 13-year-old girl from Fort Worth. 

The case involved three men who were prostituting several women at the Roadway Inn on South Southwest Loop 323. The men set up advertisements for the women on Backpage.com. These prostituted women were performing commercial sex acts that ranged from $35 to $100 an hour with all of the money being given to the pimps. 

The case brought to light the use of certain apps that make it difficult to track phone numbers. Tyler Police detectives conducted forensic investigations on six phones used in the operation.

The arrest affidavit said the app allows anonymity as the user is able to communicate with an alias number created within the application.

This type of communication makes it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to track the numbers, according to the arrest warrant. 

“The pimps are able to monitor the messages on the girls’ phones,” Harry said. “They control all the aspects of their lives.” 

The women relied on the men, their pimps, for everything including food, clothes, trips to the nail salon and hygiene items including condoms and birth control. The women would collect the money for the sex acts and give it to the pimps.

“Human trafficking is done through force, fraud and coercion,” Harry said. “It’s modern day slavery and it’s happening everywhere.”

Detectives reviewed surveillance camera footage and receipts from the hotel. They tracked the movements of three men, Cederrick Clarkson, Kentrell Davis and Demarcus Davis, in and out of the hotel with the phone conversations they were able to retrieve.

This information linked the three men to the prostituted victims, a 17-year-old from Grand Prairie, a 17-year-old from Haltom City, a 36-year-old woman from Frisco and a 22-year-old from Rockdale.   

Police linked a phone number to a commercial sex buyer, or “john” in East Texas. They were able to link the number to a man they observed on surveillance video going into one of the suspect’s rooms at the hotel.

The buyer confessed to police that he found the woman through a Backpage advertisement and was able to describe the woman. He told police he agreed to pay $60 for a 10-minute sexual act. 

The buyers who are purchasing commercial sex acts are from all backgrounds and all walks of life. Most are average citizens and many themselves become victims of other crimes when they engage in online prostitution, police said. 

“We want people to know how dangerous this can be,” Harry said. “A man who engages in this is entering into dangerous territory. They can end up in a hotel room where they are assaulted and robbed. They may never get to the sexual act and the assault and robbery will most likely never get reported.”

Harry said tougher legislation and more allocated resources are making it easier to prosecute the crime. 

Kentrell Davis and Demarcus Davis previously had been arrested on separate prostitution charges by the Arlington Police Department and taken into custody at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth.

Additional charges were filed against the two in connection with the Tyler case for the first-degree felony offense of engaging in organized criminal activity for aggravated promotion of prostitution. They are being held in the Tarrant County Jail on $550,000 bonds each. 

Clarkson disappeared after police began to investigate the initial complaint at the Roadway Inn on April 20. He was on the run until Aug. 30 when he was arrested at his home in Shreveport.

Clarkson was extradited back to Smith County on Sept. 7 and was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and is being held on a $400,000 bond. 

While police say the issue of prostitution is not new to East Texas, the level of conversation about the problem has reached a more public and inclusive dialogue. 

On Thursday, the Women’s Fund of Smith County hosted a forum addressing the dangers of online solicitation and how to prevent victimization. 

A full room at the ETMC Pavilion Conference Center discussed the problem and how it relates to East Texas as well as how best to work together toward solutions. 

TWITTER: @LouAnnCampbell

CLOSER LOOK

East Texas has many resources to help people who are trafficked into the business. For the Silent is a Tyler nonprofit that works to prevent sex trafficking and Refuge of Light is a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a long-term safe home to provide physical, mental, and spiritual healing for victims of sex trafficking. 

For the Silent: (903) 747-8128, www.forthesilent.org

Refuge of Light: (903) 279-8769, www.refugeoflight.org