21 years in prison for Milwaukee's 'Pimpin' Paul' Carter for sex trafficking, forced labor convictions



Paul Carter



WASHINGTON – He's known as "Pimpin' Paul" -- abusing and sexually exploiting women. Paul Carter, 47, was sentenced to 21 years in prison, reduced by three years for time served, after pleading guilty on Oct. 6, 2017, to four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion and one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor and sex trafficking.

Federal investigators say Carter preyed on Milwaukee women, often picking them up off the streets and forcing them into prostitution. According to federal court documents, Carter worked with another Milwaukee man to recruit young women and girls.

Carter used his home at 36th and Hope, as a place to hide his victims. He forced them to work in northern Wisconsin as erotic dancers and prostitutes, and violently lashed out if they ever tried to leave.

For example, on one occasion, the defendant used a heated wire hanger to brand a “P” on a victim’s buttock to demonstrate his ownership of her. When he learned that another victim was considering leaving, he put the barrel of a gun in her mouth and threatened to “blow her head off," authorities said.

On another occasion, Carter, believing that a victim had hidden money from him, responded by searching her genitals and then forcing her to engage in sexual intercourse with him. In another instance, Carter required her to choose between two punishments: drowning or jumping out of a window. After the victim jumped out of the window and fell to the ground, the defendant kicked her several times in the head, threw the victim to the ground, and stepped on her head hard enough to break her teeth.

"We can't arrest the problem away," said Nancy Yarbrough-Banks, Fresh Start Learning.

They are the types of horror stories victims' advocate, Nancy Yarbrough-Banks, has heard time and time again. She says Carter's sentence is a good first step but not a solution.

"We have to start thinking about ways in which we can get the ones victimizing victims the help that they need or else we're going to start reproducing the same issues again," said Yarbrough-Banks.

Prosecutors say Carter spent more than a decade destroying women's lives. He will now spend time in prison paying for it.

Two of Carter’s co-defendants previously pleaded guilty. David Moore pleaded guilty on October 27, 2015, to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and trafficking with respect to forced labor. Sentencing is scheduled for January 30, 2018. Najee Moore pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and use of an interstate facility to promote a prostitution business enterprise on June 9, 2014, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on December 22, 2016.