MEMPHIS - Sept 24, 2014: Man gets prison time for sex trafficking teen girls

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UPDATE: A man will stay behind bars after pleading guilty to sex trafficking two minor teenage girls.

Arsenio Rhodes, 26, of Hickory Hill brought the girls, ages 15 and 17, from Lexington, Tennessee, to a Memphis motel in 2014 for sex purposes, according to the Office of the District Attorney General.

Investigators said he posted advertisements online offering them for commercial sex acts.

He also threatened the girls and beat them, according to the DA’s Office.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison, and he will also go on the Sex Offender Registry.

Sept 24, 2014: A 23-year-old man has been indicted on charges of aggravated rape, rape and trafficking for sexual services involving two teenaged girls, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich said Wednesday.
Arsenio Rhodes is being held in the Shelby County Jail on $500,000 bond.
According to an investigation, Rhodes brought a 15-year-old girl to Memphis from a house in Lexington, Tenn., last Feb. 9 and put her up in a motel.
He then put a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she would not agree to prostitute herself to make money for him. When she refused, he beat her and raped her repeatedly over the next five days, the investigation showed.
On Feb. 14 Rhodes told the girl to pack her belongings and then took her to a parking lot where he left her. She later identified him in a photo spread shown to her by police.
Another victim, a 17-year-old girl, was located at a motel at Lamar and American Way on Feb. 20 by the Memphis Police Organized Crime Unit.
Officers were investigating the posting of an advertisement for the girl as an escort at an online site commonly used by sex traffickers. Rhodes was with the woman at the time and told investigators he had received money from the victim for posting the escort-services advertisement online.
The case is being handled by the DA’s Special Victims Unit which prosecutes cases of child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse of child victims; rape and aggravated rape of adult victims, and abuse of elderly and vulnerable adults.

SEE Sept 24, 2014 link: https://www.scdag.com/news/item/638-man-indicted-in-rape-sex-trafficking-case