Former wrestler convicted in forced prostitution case

ATLANTA - A federal jury found a former pro wrestler known as ``Hardbody Harrison'' guilty of multiple counts of sex trafficking and forced labor Wednesday in a scheme to force women into prostitution.

Harrison Norris Jr., 41, was convicted of charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, aggravated sexual abuse, forced labor, and sex trafficking involving eight women.

He was acquitted of all charges involving a ninth woman, but could be sentenced to up to life in prison when is sentenced Feb. 28.

Serving as his own lawyer, Norris denied that he kept women as sex slaves at his two homes in Cartersville, northwest of Atlanta.

He contended that the women willingly lived at the homes because they wanted to train as pro wrestlers. He says many of them arrived on drugs and left in the best shape of their lives.

During a two-week trial, prosecutors portrayed him as a predator who used his wrestling business to lure poor and vulnerable women into prostitution and forced labor.

``I think the jury's verdict vindicates the rights of the victims who were brave enough to come forward and confront this man who abused them,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Coppedge said.

Witnesses testified that Norris, a former Army sergeant and veteran of the Persian Gulf War, imposed a strict military structure, with each of the women assigned to a squad overseen by an ``enforcer.''

One witness testified that Norris beat or threatened them to keep control and that he threatened to throw one through a hotel window when she would not engage in sex with two customers.

In addition to forcing the victims to work as prostitutes, Norris made them work in and around his houses, requiring them to haul trees, lay sod and paint, according to testimony.

Norris wrestled for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling organization in the 1990s.

In 2000, after leaving WCW, Norris, who is black, joined other wrestlers in a lawsuit against the company and its parent, Turner Sports. The lawsuit alleged racial discrimination, saying WCW cast nonwhite wrestlers in unflattering stereotypical roles.

Norris settled out of court for a sum his family said was upward of $1 million.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)