U.S. v. Footman
| Citation | 66 F.Supp.2d 83 |
| Decision Date | 01 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. CRIM. 98-CR-10067-NG.,CRIM. 98-CR-10067-NG. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Troy FOOTMAN, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Jonathan Shapiro, Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin, Boston, MA, for Troy Footman, aka Troy Clarks aka Troy Clark, Defendant.
Charles P. McGinty, Federal Defender Office, Boston, MA, for Kimyou Tes, aka Rina Kong, Defendant.
Paula J. DeGiacomo, United States Attorney's Office, Boston, MA, for U.S.
SECOND AMENDED SENTENCING MEMORANDUM1
On November 18, 1998, the defendant, Troy Footman (hereinafter "Footman") was found guilty of conspiracy to transport women, including three minors, from Lowell, Massachusetts, to New Castle, Delaware, for prostitution and sexual activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2421 and 2423(a). He was also found guilty of a succession of substantive offenses, each count representing a particular trip with a particular minor (A.M., age 17, S.O., age 17, and J-3, age 14), or woman (Rita Boykins [hereinafter "Boykins"]). Finally, Footman was convicted of using an interstate facility, Western Union, to distribute the proceeds of a prostitution enterprise in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952(a)(1).2
18 U.S.C. §§ 2421 and 2423(a) criminalize the transportation of women and girls across state lines for the purpose of prostitution and other sexual activity. To convict, the government does not have to prove that the women were coerced to participate in these activities. It is enough if the defendant "knowingly transports" them for the purpose of prostitution.3 From one perspective, therefore, §§ 2421 and 2423(a) can simply be viewed as federal versions of standard state statutes prohibiting pimp and prostitution activity. In Massachusetts, for example, the maximum sentence for such acts would be five years; while in federal court, it is ten.4
But the facts of this offense go well beyond the barebones statutory outline. What was involved here was much more than "just" an immoral business activity, namely commercial sex conducted across state lines. At least one very young girl — only fourteen years old — was enlisted, while two others were only seventeen. These girls worked as prostitutes at a Delaware truck stop, far away from home. They spent their nights going from truck to truck, driver to driver, engaging in sexual acts in truck cabs or trailers, or occasionally, in a motel room, not because Footman was so charming, or the economic incentives so enticing, but because Footman controlled them. Their compliance was enforced by rape, abduction and beatings. Plainly, these were not just economic crimes, or crimes of immoral conduct. Make no mistake about it, they were crimes of violence. Their analog are the state crimes of rape and kidnaping which provide maximum sentences of ten to twenty years, or possibly life, if a child under 16 years is involved.5
On March 25, 1999, following a fifteen day trial, two sentencing hearings, and elaborate legal and factual submissions, I sentenced Footman to 180 months: 120 months on counts 3-6 concurrent with each other; 60 months on count 1, consecutive with the sentence on counts 3-6, and 30 months on counts 7, 8-19 to be concurrent with the sentence imposed on count 1.
This case raises a number of issues: 1) Which Sentencing Guideline book applies? In November of 1996, there were substantial changes to the Guidelines applicable to Footman, changes which would have resulted in a three level increase in the Guideline score, and a substantial increase to his sentence; 2) How should the Court resolve certain questions which affect enhancements to the Guideline score: (a) Did Footman have a managerial or supervisory role in an extensive organization? (b) Were there "vulnerable victims"? (c) Was there an obstruction of justice? (d) Was force or coercion involved? Finally, 3) Should the Court depart from the Guidelines score which results, once questions 1 and 2 are answered, on the basis of his criminal history and the fact that the offense included a brutal rape and abduction?
The offenses involved here took place between June of 1996, and January of 1997. After spending almost a year in jail awaiting trial on a Suffolk Superior Court indictment for inducing a minor, A.M., to engage in sex, and deriving support from her prostitution activities, Footman decided that it was "too hot" for him to continue his prostitution operations in Boston, Massachusetts. In an effort to avoid further police attention, he moved the operation to a Delaware truck stop. In so doing, Footman took with him, or arranged for the transportation of, Boykins, another woman Kim You Tes (hereinafter "Tes"), and the three minors, A.M., J-3, and S.O.6
While in Delaware, Footman told his "girls" where to stay, and what to charge. At the end of the day, he took the money they earned. The highlights of the testimony follow:7
A. A.M.
A.M. was 16 years old in 1994 when she began working as a prostitute for Footman. In December of that same year she became pregnant by him.8
In late July and early August, 1996, Footman directed A.M. to engage in prostitution with truck drivers at a Delaware truck stop. As part of their arrangement, A.M. was to give Footman all of her earnings, except for a small amount to pay for personal hygiene items. Additionally, as the "bottom girl" — a term suggesting that she had worked with Footman the longest —she was also responsible for collecting money from the other "girls," and wiring it to Footman in Boston.
After she returned from this trip to Delaware, A.M. made the first of a number of efforts to leave Footman. She decided that she would rather work for an escort service in Boston than continue to prostitute herself in Delaware. Fearing that this decision would anger Footman, she applied for, and received, a restraining order on September 3, 1996.
On September 6, 1996, when A.M. returned home, Footman was waiting for her on the porch. When she saw him, she ran into the house. He followed her and pushed her up against a wall. She screamed in vain, Footman pulled her out of her house, dragged her into the backyard, and threw her over the fence. At that point, Footman, and two other men, shoved A.M. into a car, and drove her to a bar. There, Footman took all of A.M.'s earnings from her escort work, ostensibly to pay the men who had helped him abduct her, leaving her with nothing.
Later that evening, A.M. bargained with Footman to allow her to have her own place and a boyfriend, if she paid him the money she made prostituting herself. He agreed, but by the next morning, reneged. Instead, their former arrangement would stand: She would work for him and give him all the money she made, while he would give her living expenses.9
Before A.M.'s 18th birthday on October 23, 1996, Footman again ordered his "women" to Delaware, providing them with driving directions. On this trip, A.M. drove J-3, and others, while Footman drove S.O.10 During this, and a subsequent trip before Christmas, A.M. and Boykins wired money to Footman, money which they, and the other girls, had earned as prostitutes.
By mid January of 1997, A.M. tried again to leave Footman by hitching a ride with a truck driver. In February, 1997, she returned, this time working for a different pimp. Footman found her again, and beat her mercilessly. He dragged her from her motel, threw her in his car, and took her to his room. There he yelled, punched her in the face, and kicked her for over 45 minutes. To stop the pain, A.M. agreed to return to work for him; she also believed that she was pregnant at the time. But the beating did not stop. By the time she got back to her motel, she was covered with blood and battered. S.O. confirmed seeing A.M. severely beaten.
After this beating, A.M. again hitched a ride out of Delaware. By April of 1997, however, she was back. When asked why she returned, she testified "I had no place else to go."
B. S.O.
S.O. met Footman in September of 1996 when she was 17 years old. At the time, she was...
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