No bond set for Cordova man in sex trafficking case

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UPDATE Sept. 18, 2012

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WTVA) -- A Memphis man is facing up to life in prison, after pleading guilty to sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion.

According to FBI investigators, in the summer of 2011, Marvell Antonio Culp, Jr., 24, met a young woman through social networking.

The woman, who was living in Mississippi, came to Memphis at Culp’s urging, believing she was in a romantic relationship with Culp.

Instead, Culp used threats and physical force to cause the young woman to engage in prostitution.

Culp used a website to promote her availability, and also made her walk a known street of prostitution in Memphis to solicit business.

In addition, Culp used the woman in efforts to recruit other females for his scheme.

Culp faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Sentencing is set for December 19, 2012.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Steve Parker and Debra Ireland and Trial Attorney Michael W. Grant of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS).

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance provided by the Memphis Police Department.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals, who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

FEB 18, 2012
A Cordova man required the young women to take two showers a day, to brush their teeth three times daily, to clean the motel room each morning and to hand copy his written rules that included the pledge "I will be the best ho I can be."

The FBI agent who testified to that Friday added that if Marvell Antonio Culp Jr. had to tell them twice, the result would be "a swim and meet Newport."

Translation, the agent said: a hot shower and cigarette burns.

That and other federal court testimony Friday persuaded U.S. Dist. Judge Jon McCalla to keep Culp in custody without bond until his trial on sex trafficking in April.

The 23-year-old Culp was arrested the night of Nov. 23 after a South Memphis mother said her 15-year-old daughter ran away from home Nov. 22 and was picked up by Culp and forced into prostitution.

The teenage girl told authorities she was taken to a motel on Lamar where Culp ordered an 18-year-old woman with him to dress her in lingerie and take a photograph of her that was posted at Backpage.com under the escort section.

"He said 'lace her up' and 'get her ready for the track,'" FBI special agent Jaime Corman testified in the 90-minute detention hearing. "Culp made her walk the prostitution track on Lamar and told her not to come back with less than $300. He gave her four condoms and watched her from a car and followed her on her 'dates.'

"She had sex with two men for $150 each. She had to give the money to Culp." Corman said both "dates" occurred behind American Way Middle School.

Federal prosecutor Steve Parker introduced a list of Culp's written rules the women were required to follow. Parker said the rules were verified by an expert to be in Culp's handwriting.

Rule number three read, "I will make as much money as I can for Daddy Tonio to invest in our family."

The youngest teen said she sneaked away from the motel while Culp was taking a shower and the other woman was asleep on the bed. The girl called her mother on Culp's cellphone -- which had her photo in lingerie -- and the mother in turn called police.

Culp initially was charged with state offenses and was held in the Shelby County Jail where he made some 70 telephone calls, including some on which he is heard making threats against the girl, agent Corman said.

"He said if he had a gun he'd have homicide on his mind," said the FBI agent who listened to the tapes. "He said if he did (get a gun), he'd be 'pow-pow.' He also said if they let him out (of jail) he'd be gone."

Defense attorney Mary Catherine Jermann-Robinson asked that Culp be released to the custody of his parents and be put on a GPS monitor and placed on a curfew.

"If he runs, the marshals are going to find him," she told the court, adding that the 18-year-old could have provided police false information to avoid being charged herself. "It's a horrible story, but we don't know the whole story."

Holding a photo showing cigarette burns on one woman's back, the judge called it "a violent and disturbing act." McCalla refused to set a bond for Culp, calling him a danger to the community and a flight risk.

Culp, who served part of a six-year prison sentence for an attempted robbery and six aggravated assaults, faces from 15 years to life if convicted on the pending federal charges.