Man found guilty of pimping girl, 16

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> <br> 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> <br> 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> <br> 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> <br> ``We hope this conviction sends a message that you can&#39;t exploit children sexually in this community,&#39;&#39; said Howard, who was in the courtroom to hear the verdict. <br> <br> Last year, the Howard&#39;s Office used statutory rape charges to convict two pimps of young girls. That approach wasn&#39;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> <br> ``If a 16-year-old has sex, it&#39;s not a delinquent act,&#39;&#39; said Abramson. ``If she has sex for money, it&#39;s a delinquent act.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Judge Stephanie Manis said Ford will be sentenced in January. He faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison. <br> <br> On Thursday, Manis directed a verdict of acquittal for Amanda Jones, Ford&#39;s 29-year co-defendant, who participated in the sex act with the teenager. <br> <br> Manis ruled that prosecutors hadn&#39;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> <br> 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> <br> 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&#39;s tape-recorded interview with Ford.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/12/186353