SC man gets 20 years in prison after pimping teenage girls

After pleading guilty to bringing teenage girls into prostitution, a South Carolina man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Jermaine Omar Williams, 34, was arrested in July 2013 following a sting operation involving Hoover, Vestavia Hills and Birmingham police as well as the FBI. Williams was charged with two counts of promoting prostitution, one of which was for promoting prostitution of a person under 16 years old, and two counts of human trafficking.

The operation focused on the Days Inn off of Riverchase Drive, said Hoover Police Department spokesman Capt. Gregg Rector. The department occasionally conducts these operations and arrest prostitutes or find drugs, Rector said, but the arrest of Williams is a quality that made the sting worthwhile.

“It really takes it to a whole new level,” Rector said. “It makes it worthwhile to do these details when we are able to arrest people like Mr. Williams.”

Williams had been advertising girls on Backpage.com, a website often used to post about prostitution, which was one thing that led police to the Days Inn.

Two girls, ages 15 and 17, were also recovered at the time. Rector said while officers do not know if the girls were forced into prostitution, their ages make it evident they had been manipulated in some way.

“You certainly don’t have the decision making ability to make the choice that, ‘Hey this is the lifestyle I want to lead,’” Rector said.

The lifestyle of prostitution, Rector said, is connected with drugs and other negative influences. He said a pimp’s arrest can sometimes allow girls to get out of a bad situation.

“The positive we can make in cases like this, it might at least give the girls the opportunity to get out, to get out of that line of work … and get back to living a mainstream kind of life,” Rector said.

Of his 20-year sentence, Williams must serve at least 15 years before he is eligible for parole. Rector said he thinks the sentence is appropriate, and he hopes the case’s result sends a message to anyone else manipulating and prostituting young women.

“This is the most important reason that we do prostitution stings,” Rector said. “It’s important for us to make prostitution arrests, it’s important for us to find drugs associated with those cases, but the most important reason is to find that occasional person like Mr. Williams, who is prostituting young girls.”