SAN DIEGO -- When he arrived at the motel to pick up the 17-year-old girl who had been working for him as a prostitute, Martell Davis was wearing a T-shirt that said, “I Make Pimpin’ Look Easy.”

What the 34-year-old San Diego man did not know was that the prostitute had already been arrested by San Diego vice detectives.

Davis arrived at the motel shortly after midnight on July 26 and was arrested.

He pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to charges of pimping across state lines. In his plea agreement, he admitted bringing the girl from Yuma, Ariz., to San Diego to work as a prostitute.


He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years when sentenced Dec. 13.

According to prosecutors, Davis had been led to believe, via text, that the prostitute had just been paid $500 by a john.

“Damn cool,” he texted.

But the text informing him that the sex act and payment had occurred came not from the prostitute but the vice detective, who had answered an online ad.


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tony.perry@latimes.com