LAS VEGAS, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A Las Vegas man allegedly forced girls as young as 14 into prostitution in eight states for more than a decade, federal authorities said.
Derrick Avery, 42, aka "Pimp Snooky," recruited girls from bus stations and off the street in Milwaukee, Chicago, Las Vegas and other cities, luring them with expensive clothes and jewelry, a federal complaint unsealed Monday said.
The girls were forced to earn at least $500 a night or face burnings and beatings, the complaint said.
Avery was arrested in Las Vegas Friday with Shamika Evans, 28, who allegedly was Avery's top prostitute, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wall said.
Avery is charged with three counts and Evans two counts of sex trafficking minors, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Tuesday.
Avery appeared in a 1999 documentary film called "Pimps Up, Ho's Down." In the film, he says "Let me pimp or let me die" while wearing a huge ring with a pimp holding prostitutes on a leash, the Journal Sentinel reported. Avery later said on various Web sites he was acting and never was a pimp.
