A 38-year-old Long Beach man was sentenced Tuesday to more than 11 years in federal prison for pimping a 15-year-old girl in Anaheim.
Placied Warren Vercher pleaded guilty July 9 to enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution and criminal sexual activity. He was also charged with production of child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor, but those counts were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
U.S. District Judge David Carter sentenced the defendant to 135 months in federal prison. He recommended a sex offender program for the defendant and ordered that he continue to be held in Santa Ana Jail until prison officials can find a facility with that program.
Prosecutors recommended 151 months in prison for Vercher, according to a sentencing brief.
Vercher “was an adult in his 30s and preyed on a teenaged girl he knew was underaged,” prosecutors said in the sentencing brief. “Defendant convinced her to engage in commercial sex work — work defendant stood to profit from — even when the minor victim expressed reluctance. Defendant also convinced the minor victim to send him a video of herself engaging in sexually explicit conduct that he could use for advertising: In other words, defendant solicited and produced child pornography.”
A probation report showed Vercher had a “childhood marked by instability and violence, including defendant’s mother’s early abandonment, his father’s struggles with drug abuse and incarceration, his uncle’s regular abuse of defendant and other family members, and defendant’s witnessing of his abusive uncle’s violent murder,” prosecutors said.
Vercher also “has repeatedly engaged in criminal behavior, including domestic violence,” prosecutors said.