Former WCW wrestler indicted in prostitution ring

<p>A wrestler who was once known as "Hardbody Harrison" has been indicted on charges of running a prostitution ring and using beatings and sexual assault to keep eight women in sexual slavery.</p><p>Federal authorities say Harrison Norris Jr. was a ruthless pimp who kept the women virtual prisoners in two Cartersville homes he owned.</p><p>Aimee Allen, 33, of Cartersville and Cedric Lamar Jackson, 39, of Chamblee have also been charged.</p><p>"From April 2004 to August 2005, the defendants recruited and sometimes kidnapped young women and then forced them to engage in prostitution in the Atlanta metropolitan area for their financial benefit," said an indictment released Tuesday.</p><p>During a brief court appearance Tuesday, Norris told a magistrate he had just $120 to his name other than the equity in two houses.</p><p>The indictment claims that in June, Norris lured two women _ one who was homeless _ to his home claiming he would teach them to be professional wrestlers.</p><p>The three defendants are also accused of kidnapping victims through physical force or befriending them by paying legal fines or bail for them.</p><p>Authorities allege the suspects would sexually abuse the women and force them into "parties" at which the women were forced to have sex with multiple men and with other women. Other times they were beaten, officials said.</p><p>The crimes rose to the level of federal offenses because the suspects transported the women on interstate highways, provided them with condoms that were manufactured outside Georgia and used mobile phones, prosecutors said. They also allegedly drove some of the women out of state.</p><p>Norris, a former Army sergeant, wrestled for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling organization in the 1990s.</p><p>In 2000, after leaving WCW, Norris 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. The lawsuit was later settled, said Cary Ichter, an attorney who represented the wrestlers.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc358)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/10/137048