Pimp receives 5 1/2 years in federal prison

Kim Smith

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 11:56 a.m.

A Las Vegas pimp who traveled across several state lines with an underage prostitute was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison Thursday.

In pronouncing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben said he is deeply troubled by the "permanent scarring" the girl must deal with since Andre Taylor introduced her to prostitution. McKibben said he saw "great fear" in the girl's eyes as she struggled to testify against Taylor at his September trial.

Taylor was convicted of seven prostitution-related counts, three involving the 16-year-old girl, two involving adult women who also traveled with him and two money-laundering counts.

Jurors were given a peak into the world of prostitution by two of Taylor's former prostitutes. They said they worked seven days a week and turned over all of their profits to Taylor, who lived in a $300,000 house and wore $4,000 Versace suits and a $90,000 Rolex watch.

At Thursday's sentencing hearing, Taylor's attorney, Michael Kennedy, was able to convince McKibben to dismiss the two counts relating to the adult women, saying there was insufficient evidence to support the guilty verdicts reached by the jurors.

Kennedy also tried to get the money-laundering counts dismissed, arguing that the government could not prove money spent by Taylor during the time frame came from illegal acts. He was unsuccessful.

In a long speech to McKibben, Taylor said that because he came from "the womb of a prostitute and the seed of a pimp," he struggled for a long time before finally figuring out that prostitution is "immoral before God." A lengthy prison term will not change him because he has already changed, Taylor said.