A 23-year-old woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to bring a teenage girl from Las Vegas to the Southland for the purpose of prostitution.
Tabitha Samaria Walls faces up to six years in federal prison when she is sentenced in March on one felony count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tritia Yuen said.
“It’s really a sad case,” defense attorney Gerald C. Salseda said outside court. His client is young and “has a lot of potential,” he said.
According to court papers filed last year, Walls and a co-defendant brought the teen from Las Vegas to the Southland, where they forced her to engage in prostitution in Los Angeles, Hollywood, Pomona and Ontario.
The complaint states that the victim was forced to give up the money she earned as a prostitute to Walls and Kenyati Jakeen Rahh-Potts, who is set to face trial in January.
It was not immediately known where Walls and Rahh-Potts, 26, lived before their arrests.
Yuen declined comment on the case.
— City News Service