Man gets 10 years to life for raping, forcing woman into prostitution

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 | 10:50 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who was found guilty of repeatedly raping and forcing a Canadian tourist to work as a prostitute for him in early January will be going to prison for at least the next 10 years — and possibly the rest of his life.

Clark County District Judge Valerie Adair sentenced Charles Ford, 49, to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison today for five felony counts related to an incident that occurred Jan. 1 to Jan. 3 involving a woman who had been working as a prostitute in Los Angeles while sightseeing in the United States.

Ford was sentenced to 10 years to life on each of three felony sexual assault convictions, which will run concurrently. He was also sentenced to 24 to 60 months on one count of pandering and 12 to 48 months on one count of living off the earnings of a prostitute.

His court-appointed attorney, Ken Frizzell, said he would file an appeal, but asked the judge to be removed as Ford’s court-appointed counsel. A status check in the case was set for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 2.

Ford was convicted in April by a Clark County jury. During the trial, the victim testified she had been a prostitute as a teenager, had stopped for many years as an adult and had raised a family. She decided to go on vacation from her home in Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. While she was staying in Los Angeles she decided to earn money for herself as a prostitute.

At that point, she met another prostitute along Sunset Boulevard, Annette Dennis. The two women struck up a conversation and the victim agreed to drive Dennis to Las Vegas.

Then when they got to Las Vegas, Dennis' boyfriend, who was known as "T," introduced the Canadian woman to his friend, "Charlie Mac," the name Ford was using.

Prosecutors say that through threats and intimidation and with information gathered by Dennis, Ford coerced the Canadian woman into working as a prostitute for him, making about $2,500 for him over two nights.

Al Beas, a Metro vice detective who is an expert in the subculture of prostitution, told the jury about intimidation and psychological techniques pimps use to get a prostitute under their control.

He also said it was easier for a pimp to get a woman who had previously been a prostitute under his control than a woman who had never sold sexual favors. He said a former prostitute was "almost like an addict being put back on drugs."

The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michelle Fleck, explained to the jury that those psychological techniques were the same ones used against the Canadian woman — shame, fear, humiliation and isolation.

The victim said Ford gathered personal information about her, got access to her driver's license and her laptop computer, isolated her, monitored her phone calls and e-mails and sexually assaulted her from Jan. 1 to Jan. 3.

Although the woman initially refused to "break" to Ford as her pimp, he told her he had information on her adult children and they would suffer the consequences if she didn't comply.

However, the Canadian woman eventually went to police on the morning of Jan. 4 after Ford had sent her out by herself to work as a prostitute on the Las Vegas Strip. Ford was arrested at the Travelodge, 5075 Koval Lane, in Las Vegas, where they had been staying.