Tag: human trafficking

Thomas Welty sentenced to 30 years for sexually abusing, trafficking teen girls

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (June 12) sentenced Thomas Welty to 30 years in prison for his conviction of sexually abusing two teenaged girls, both of whom were given illegal narcotics so he could control them.

Welty, 46, a former Metairie resident, was convicted by a jury on May 27 of second-degree rape and trafficking children for sexual purposes involving one victim; and indecent behavior with a juvenile, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and sexual battery of the other victim.

Click here to read about the trial.

The crimes occurred between 2019 and 2021. Both victims were 15 years old when Welty began abusing them.

One of the victims, whose association with Welty lead to an addiction to methamphetamine and who was sexually abused not only by Welty but by two of his friends who have not been identified, provided a written victim-impact statement that was read aloud by Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb.

“I choose to forgive what you’ve done, but not for you,” the victim wrote. “I’m forgiving you for myself, because at the end of the day I need to heal – not you.

“I was so grateful to learn that every seven years, every cell in your entire body is being replaced,” she added. “And with that being said, how great is it to know that I will finally have a body you will have never touched.”

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th judicial District Court sentenced Welty to 30 years for second-degree rape, 30 years for trafficking children for sexual purposes, seven years for indecent behavior of juveniles, 10 years for contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and 10 years for sexual battery.

She ran the sentences concurrently. Additionally, she issued a stay-away order prohibiting any contact with the victims that is in effect for 100 years, and she ordered that he register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

After announcing the sentences, Judge Kovach addressed the two victims, telling them that they “testified extremely creditably,” and that their “bravery impressed the court.”

“I just wanted to say you’re both incredibly strong women,” Judge Kovach told them.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Thomas Welty guilty of drugging, sexually abusing, trafficking teen girls

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday evening (May 20) found Thomas Welty guilty of sexually abusing two teenage girls after giving them illegal narcotics.

Welty, 46, formerly of Metairie, was convicted as charged of second-degree rape and trafficking of children for sexual purposes involving one victim; and, of indecent behavior with a juvenile, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and sexual battery involving the other victim.

Both victims were aged 15 when Welty began abusing them between 2019 and 2021. Welty provided highly addictive methamphetamine to one of the victims and the “date rape” drug GHB to the other.

“He used narcotics as a mechanism for control,” Assistant District Attorney Erich Cathey told jurors in closing argument Tuesday. “He used methamphetamine and GHB to control his victims.”

Welty began abusing one of the victims during 2019 Carnival season, when he provided her with alcohol in the French Quarter, leading her to pass out. He brought her to his home in Metairie, where he injected her with methamphetamine – her first experience with the narcotic. After raping her, Welty allowed two drug-dealing associates to do the same in exchange for narcotics (they have never been identified).

The victim developed an addiction to methamphetamine, which he provided to her as he continued to rape her. The victim’s grandmother learned of Welty and notified the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in July 2020, when she was 16 years old. The victim also disclosed the abuse later that year to a school counselor, who in turn notified the school resource officer. The victim went into rehabilitation to beat the addiction.

Welty gave GHB to the other victim in July 2020. The victim passed out. When she regained consciousness, she was in the shower with Welty. She rebuffed his sexual advances and departed the following morning. She had been acquainted with Welty since January 2019.

“Welty was grooming her,” Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb told jurors Tuesday. Groomers, she said, “are strategically taking their time to study who they want to attack.”

In testimony Tuesday, Welty denied the charges, although he admitted to sexual activity with the first victim. But he accused her of lying about her age. With the second victim, he told jurors he found her in his bed, and she had vomited. He carried her to the bathroom and left her there. His attorney told jurors that there is no physical evidence. Welty has three convictions of possession of ketamine and possession with intent to distribute ketamine, jurors heard.

Jurors who were selected on Thursday deliberated for three hours before returning with their verdicts.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for June 12.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Adam Littleton sentenced to life for Jasilas Wright’s I-10 death

Adam Littleton was sentenced Thursday (Nov. 9) to a mandatory life sentence in prison, for his criminal culpability in causing the death of a woman who was fatally struck by vehicles on Interstate 10 in Metairie after she leapt from his moving car in trying to escape him.

Littleton, 26, a Mississippi native, was convicted as charged this summer of second-degree murder in the June 10, 2015, death of Jasilas Wright, 19.

According to evidence presented at trial, Wright met Littleton through her job as a dancer at Bourbon Street night clubs. In May 2015, she traveled with Littleton to Texas, where she engaged in prostitution. Littleton benefited financially from her prostitution.

On the morning she died, Wright and Littleton argued in the French Quarter before he forced her into his car with him, according to a witness.

However, unwilling to travel to Texas again, Wright jumped from Littleton’s car in the westbound lanes of I-10 near the Veterans Memorial Boulevard overpass. She was fatally struck by vehicles.

According to additional evidence presented at trial, Littleton witnessed Wright being struck by vehicles and yet continued driving to Texas. He never notified police.

He did speak with Wright’s family on the telephone, telling them only that she jumped from his car. He hung up and never spoke with them again.

Knowing that warrants for his arrest were pending in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans, Littleton surrendered to authorities in Shreveport.

Littleton was prosecuted under the felony-murder doctrine. Prosecutors alleged that he was engaged in the crime of second-degree kidnapping when Wright died, and as such, he was legally responsible for her death.

Following the conviction, Littleton’s defense counsel sought a new trial, citing numerous complaints. The defense argued, among other things, that prosecutors withheld information about a key witness’s criminal history.

After hearing argument, reading numerous briefs and listening to a recording of the key witness’s trial testimony, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court ruled he found “no merit” to the defense assertions.

Judge Faulkner then sentenced Littleton to the mandatory life sentence.

The Louisiana State Police, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and New Orleans Police Department investigated the homicide.

Assistant District Attorneys Kellie Rish and Megan Gorman prosecuted the case.

Adam Littleton guilty of murder in I-10 death of Jasilas Wright

Adam Littleton, a Mississippi native, was found criminally responsible on Friday (July 28) for the death of a woman who attempted to escape his vehicle after being kidnapped by jumping from his car on Interstate 10 in Metairie.

Littleton, 25, was convicted as charged of second-degree murder in the June 10, 2015, death of Jasilas Wright, 19. According to testimony at trial, Wright met Littleton in connection with her job as a dancer at Bourbon Street nightclubs.

Littleton was prosecuted under the felony-murder doctrine. Shortly before Wright died, she and Littleton got into an altercation in the French Quarter. Littleton roughed up her to get her into his car, and they drove toward Metairie on I-10. As Wright died during the commission of a second-degree kidnapping, Littleton was found to be legally responsible for her death.

The month before her death, Wright went with Littleton and another woman to Texas for prostitution, a decision she regretted after he initially abandoned her there without money, she told family and friends in New Orleans in emotional phone calls, jurors heard this week in testimony.

Wright sought to distance herself from Littleton and the lifestyle, said Assistant District Attorney Kellie Rish, who prosecuted Littleton with Megan Gorman. “Jasilas was on the highway of human trafficking,” Rish told jurors. “She was looking for her exit.”

Shortly before her death, Littleton and Wright argued on Bourbon Street before he forced her into his car to drive her to Texas. Unwilling to go, Wright leapt from Littleton’s car in the I-10 westbound lanes where the interstate crosses over Veterans Memorial Boulevard. Several vehicles struck her and ran over her body numerous times. Many motorists called 911. But Littleton, who witnessed Wright being struck by cars, continued to Texas.

“What does Adam do? Nothing, because he knows he’s to blame,” Rish told jurors. “He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t call police.”

Wright suffered “massive trauma,” her death caused by “multiple blunt-force trauma,” forensic pathologist Dr. Marianne Eserman testified of her autopsy results.

After collecting personal items from the I-10 lanes and shoulders, the Louisiana State Police identified Wright as the victim, according to testimony. The items included Wright’s cell phone, a key piece of evidence, according to State Police.

Littleton spoke with Wright’s family on the phone, telling them that Wright jumped out of his car. He hung up, and they could never contact him again.

With warrants for his arrest issued in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, Littleton surrendered to police in Shreveport. In addition to the State Police, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the New Orleans Police Department were involved in the investigation.

Littleton faces spending the rest of his life in prison, at hard labor and with no chance of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Littleton on Aug. 22.

 

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Mississippi man pleads guilty in brutal human trafficking case

A Mississippi man was sentenced on Wednesday (March 8) to 20 years in prison for his role in a human trafficking case. Pierre Braddy’s guilty plea brings to two the number convictions obtained in connection with the April 2015 crimes, in which a 25-year-old Florida woman was severely beaten and forced into prostitution in Jefferson Parish.

Braddy, 28, of Jackson, pleaded guilty to forcible rape, human trafficking and obstruction of justice, admitting he was one of two Mississippi men to force her into prostitution and keep the money she earned. He entered the pleas late Tuesday afternoon, at the end of the first day of testimony in his trial that began on Monday, when the jury was seated.

The victim appeared in court Wednesday morning to provide impact testimony.

“I just wanted to let you know that I hope when you get out, and I know that you will get out, that you make better choices and that you don’t let someone manipulate or control you and let something like this happen,” she told Braddy. “It was very hurtful. It was very painful. But life goes on. I hope you have a good life.”

Braddy apologized to her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be a man and stopped what happened,” he told her. He thanked the prosecutors and judge “for giving me a second chance.”

In sentencing Braddy, Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court called his crimes “horrendous.” Of his victim, Judge Miller told him, “You have traumatized her forever.”

Braddy’s co-defendant, Willard Anthony, 30, of Madison, Miss., was convicted as charged by a Jefferson Parish Jury on Dec. 11, of two counts of aggravated rape, two counts of human trafficking, one count each of second-degree battery, aggravated battery, sexual battery and of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

He forced the Florida victim into prostitution. Judge Miller sentenced Anthony to a mandatory life sentence in prison on Dec. 14.

Anthony initially met the victim at a hotel in Florida in 2015. She had turned to prostitution to earn money to support her drug habit and advertised her illegal services on backpage.com, a website known by law enforcement agencies for its prostitution advertisements, according to evidence presented in his December trial.

When the victim showed up for her “date” at a hotel room, she met Anthony, who was armed with a pistol. She was beaten and passed out, and when she woke, she was in a car driven by Anthony and had other women, all of whom were traveling to New Orleans. Braddy followed them in his parents’ sports utility vehicle.

After obtaining a motel room on Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey, Anthony and Braddy advertised her and other women on backpage.com, according to trial evidence. The victim, after a “date,” attempted to escape with a man who paid her for sex. Anthony pursued them in his car and flashed a pistol on a busy West Bank thoroughfare, leading the man to leave her behind. The victim attempted to get away on foot. Anthony caught her.

As a result, Anthony had other women beat the woman to the point that she lost consciousness, according to trial testimony. Anthony also made the woman lick a drop of her blood from his shoe and announced he would urinate on her if he could.

Braddy stepped in and forced her to drink his urine, and in doing so he orally raped her. Anthony vaginally raped her with the barrel of his pistol, from which her DNA was later recovered, according to trial evidence. To mask her facial injuries, they made her wear makeup they purchased from a nearby big-box store.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Vice Squad encountered the victim while conducting a routine investigation of prostitution on April 13, 2015. The deputies randomly selected an advertisement on backpage.com.

An undercover JPSO deputy acted as a customer and arranged a date with the victim and went to the Harvey motel room. The Vice Squad was unaware of what transpired during the three days prior, when the victim was forced from Florida to Jefferson Parish, according to testimony in Anthony’s trial.

The undercover deputy testified that he saw the victim sitting on a bed. Her eyes were swollen, and she had a laceration above one of them. “When I saw her she was shivering. You could actually hear her teeth chattering,” the deputy testified.

Another woman in the room told him that the victim was not available. He negotiated for sexual services with the second woman, and once the transaction was confirmed, Vice Squad members raided the room.

The undercover deputy immediately drove the beaten victim to a hospital, given the extent of her injuries. “We later found out she was made to wear makeup so she could continue working. She had to make money” for her pimps, he testified.

After she was released from the hospital in the days that followed, she was extradited to Florida, where she had an open attachment.

Anthony was arrested at the motel on April 13, 2015, shortly after Vice Squad members rescued the victim. Braddy escaped in his sports utility vehicle with the pistol Anthony used to rape the victim and the drugs they used. His fleeing with evidence was the underlying act for the obstruction of justice charge. He was later arrested in Mississippi.

Following his prison sentence, Braddy will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Doug Freese prosecuted the cases.

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