Baltimore Pimp Convicted On Federal Charges Of Sex Trafficking Of A Child, Other Charges
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore pimp was convicted on federal charges of sex trafficking of a child and using the internet to promote a prostitution business.
Ryan Parks, also known as Dinero, 26, could face life in prison on the sex-trafficking charges.
According to evidence presented at his trial, Parks trafficked two vulnerable minor victims— a 16-year-old girl (Girl 1) and a 15-year-old girl (Girl 2) for commercial sex.
According to trial testimony, Parks met Girl 1 online. During their communications, he learned that she was hungry and had no real place to live. He offered her a place to stay.
Parks sent a car to pick the girl up, and within a day, had advertisements posted on a website that marketed commercial sex workers.
The advertisements contained photographs and descriptions of Girl 1 and offered Girl 1 for commercial sex acts.
Parks then stayed with Girl 1 in a motel room, along with another woman he was advertising on the Internet for commercial sex.
Parks would leave the room for short periods of time when men would come to the room to have sex with Girl 1 and would return to the room shortly after the men left the room.
One of Girl 1's customers returned to the room the next day to rescue her, and he took her to live in a different city with his sister.
The evidence also proved that in November 2017, Parks met Girl 2 online, and learned that she had run away from her foster home.
Parks took Girl 2 to the same motel in Baltimore where he had harbored Girl 1.
Parks took photos of Girl 2 and paid for an online advertisement offering the teen for commercial sex using his phone.
As he had with Girl 1, Parks then set the prices and time limits for the sex acts to be performed on Girl 2.
Law enforcement received word of the incidents and began investigating the trafficking of the two minor victims. They discovered evidence regarding the extent of Parks' prostitution business.
Evidence at trial proved that from February 25, 2017, through the date that he was arrested on January 10, 2018, Parks paid over $1,000 for approximately 295 commercial sex advertisements placed on the Internet.
Parks advertised approximately 27 different women and girls for commercial sex and paid over $6,000 for hotel rooms in Baltimore County and Baltimore City.
Parks faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison for each of the two counts of sex trafficking a minor; and a maximum of five years in prison for using the Internet to promote a business enterprise involving prostitution.