ATLANTA - Fulton County prosecutors got a boost in their crackdown on teenage prostitution when a Superior Court jury convicted an Atlanta man on charges of pimping a 16-year-old girl. <br>
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Jason Chadwick Ford was convicted Friday of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor for paying the teen to perform a lesbian sex act at Club Zinc last July. <br>
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The club was raided by police that night and found another woman engaged sexually with 10 men onstage. More than 100 spectators had paid $25 each to watch, authorities said. <br>
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Most charges against those arrested that night were dismissed, but the District Attorney Paul Howard filed charges against Ford, the organizer of the event, and several others. <br>
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``We hope this conviction sends a message that you can't exploit children sexually in this community,'' said Howard, who was in the courtroom to hear the verdict. <br>
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Last year, the Howard's Office used statutory rape charges to convict two pimps of young girls. That approach wasn't possible against Ford because the girl he recruited for an escort business was old enough legally to consent to sex. Instead he was indicted for sexual exploiting a minor by luring her into prostitution, said prosecutor Gayle Abramson. <br>
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``If a 16-year-old has sex, it's not a delinquent act,'' said Abramson. ``If she has sex for money, it's a delinquent act.'' <br>
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Judge Stephanie Manis said Ford will be sentenced in January. He faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison. <br>
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On Thursday, Manis directed a verdict of acquittal for Amanda Jones, Ford's 29-year co-defendant, who participated in the sex act with the teenager. <br>
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Manis ruled that prosecutors hadn't presented evidence that Jones knew the teen was underage, a requirement for conviction. The teen testified she told Jones she was an adult. <br>
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The girl testified she had agreed to be a prostitute for Ford because she could earn $300 an hour. She said she was supposed to have her first customer the day after the Club Zinc sex show but her arrest ended that. <br>
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On Tuesday, Las Vegas Police Officer Troy Barrett testified that he had once arrested Ford on charges of soliciting a 14-year-old girl for sex over the Internet but Nevada failed to prosecute despite Barrett's tape-recorded interview with Ford.
