Demarcus Davis mugshot (courtesy of Tyler Police Department)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A 26-year-old North Texas man must serve life in federal prison after being convicted of helping run a sex trafficking ring exploiting underage girls.

Prosecutors on Thursday described Demarcus Davis of Fort Worth as a “violent pimp” who recruited, controlled and profited off girls providing commercial sex acts.

Davis was convicted in April of sex trafficking of children. He was sentenced Monday in Fort Worth.

Prosecutors say another man also convicted of sex trafficking-related counts was earlier sentenced to life in prison, while a third man convicted in the case received a 35-year term.

A fourth man, who pleaded guilty to obstruction of enforcement, must serve more than five years in prison for threatening a victim and her toddler to keep the mother from cooperating with investigators.

The 24-page complaint filed in the Northern District of Texas said the Fort Worth Police Department’s Vice unit started the investigation into the sex trafficking after receiving a call from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding a victim of child sex trafficking. This call led investigators to an ad on a website containing photographs of a woman advertising commercial sex acts and scheduling dates for those acts.

Fort Worth investigators found the woman in the ad at a hotel room. They also found two other women hiding in the closet of that room. 

Davis was involved in a 2017 prostitution case in Tyler involving Cederrick Monshod Shaquil Clarkson, 25, and Kentrell Davis, 25, both of Shreveport.