Pimp & Three “Team Leaders” In Human Trafficking Organization Sentenced

Atlanta, GA - CEDRIC JACKSON, 41, of Atlanta, Georgia and AIMEE ALLEN, 37, formerly of Cartersville, Georgia, and now of Clarence, New York, were sentenced today by United States District Judge Jack T. Camp on charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking, related to a sex trafficking organization led by former professional wrestler “Hardbody” HARRISON NORRIS. MICHELLE ACHUFF, 25, of Lafayette, Tennessee, and LESLIE SMITH, 22, of Macon, Georgia, were also sentenced today for making false statements to FBI agents regarding NORRIS’ criminal activities.


United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the sentencings, “Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery that robs individuals of their freedom. The chains of confinement are often psychological and hidden. These convictions and sentences show that those assisting human traffickers–whether in finding victims, transporting victims against their will, ensuring that the victims are not free to leave, or trying to protect and hide the crimes–also may face prosecution and prison time.”


“With today’s sentences, these defendants have been held to answer for their participation in a scheme to exploit and abuse numerous young women,” said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that those who engage in the terrible crime of sex trafficking are brought to justice.”


JACKSON was sentenced to 5 years in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and fined $1,500. ALLEN, who cooperated with the government and testified at trial, was sentenced to 2 years, 10 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and fined $1,500. ALLEN and JACKSON were convicted of these charges on May 1, 2006 when both entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit peonage, sex trafficking, forced labor, trafficking with respect to peonage and forced labor, and witness tampering.


ACHUFF and LESLIE SMITH were each sentenced to 3 years probation. These two defendants, who pleaded guilty, were “team leaders” in NORRIS’prostitution organization. ACHUFF and SMITH admitted that they provided false information about NORRIS’ activities to federal law enforcement agents, claiming that he was only involved in a legitimate wrestling company, in order to protect NORRIS. After their guilty pleas, ACHUFF and SMITH also cooperated in the investigation, and ACHUFF testified at NORRIS’ trial in November 2007.


According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court: JACKSON admitted to working as a pimp in the Atlanta area and associating with co-defendant NORRIS. In particular, JACKSON attended NORRIS’ so-called “cut parties” at which newly-recruited women were forced to have sex with multiple men. JACKSON also admitted that he and NORRIS would bail unsuspecting women out of local jails and use those debts to coerce the women to work as prostitutes in order to make repayment. JACKSON further admitted that he provided two women to NORRIS for his forced prostitution business. One of those women testified at NORRIS’ trial that before JACKSON handed her over to NORRIS, JACKSON had kidnaped, choked, and sexually assaulted her.


JACKSON was a pimp from whom NORRIS received two women. Once in NORRIS’ home, the victims were held against their will, fined, beaten, threatened with violence, and forced to work as prostitutes and domestic servants. NORRIS’ sex trafficking scheme operated with the assistance of “team leaders” such as ALLEN, ACHUFF, and LESLIE SMITH, who presented themselves as female wrestlers in order to recruit victims, monitored victims for NORRIS, and enforced his rules.


ALLEN admitted that she was NORRIS’ most loyal “team leader.” ALLEN admitted that since 2001, she helped NORRIS recruit women, many of whom were poor, homeless or addicted to drugs, to be prostitutes, by first convincing them that NORRIS would help them to become female wrestlers. ALLEN’s assistance gave NORRIS’ scheme credibility as she would tell the women she was in a female wrestling troupe and they could be as well. However, when they were recruiting these victims, ALLEN knew that the women would not become professional wrestlers and that they would be forced to work as prostitutes. In her role as “team leader,” ALLEN supervised and monitored the victims who were lured to NORRIS’ home, to ensure that they would not escape or fail to comply with NORRIS’ rules. According to the evidence at trial, ALLEN assaulted a women at NORRIS’ instruction and induced several victims to engage in commercial sex acts, by scaring them with tales of physical repercussions from NORRIS if they refused to do as they were told. ALLEN ultimately cooperated in the case and testified against NORRIS at trial.