PHOENIX – Judge Pamela Gates today sentenced Andre Antonio Adams (D.O.B. 3/8/1983) to a term of 330.75 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for causing two 15-year-old girls to engage in prostitution and for providing them with drugs. A jury found Adams guilty last March on ten counts of child prostitution and two counts of transferring or selling drugs to a minor. He also has prior convictions for aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit sale of Marijuana and possession of Marijuana.

“The severity of today’s sentence is proportionate to the insidiousness and depravity that surrounds the sexual exploitation of children,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “This case also exemplifies the commitment of my Office to work diligently with our law enforcement partners to aggressively prosecute sex traffickers and protect the community from the harm they cause.”

Detectives assigned to the Greater Phoenix Area Human Trafficking Task Force became aware of the two female victims in the case through advertisements posed on Backpage.com, a website frequently used to facilitate prostitution. After contacting the girls, investigators learned the two were 15 years old and listed as runaways. When interviewed, the girls stated they were working as prostitutes for a pimp known as “Chicago,” who knew both of their ages because they had told him. They related that “Chicago” would rent a hotel room for them to have sex with adult men and that he promised to protect them and provide them with money and marijuana.

The two victims subsequently identified “Chicago” in a photo lineup and investigators determined his actual identity to be Andre Antonio Adams. He was arrested on January 24, 2015 and charged with child prostitution and providing drugs to a minor. On March 29, 2016, after deliberating for less than four hours, a jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts.

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