Houston Police Department
48-year-old Larry Lewis, the self-proclaimed “King of Bissonnet,” was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for sex trafficking and transporting several women across state lines to engage in prostitution.
The man coerced and forced four women to engage in prostitution along Bissonnet Street and other cities in Texas and Louisiana. During his trial, several victims detailed how Lewis recruited them on promises of good money and a good life. Lewis confiscated their IDs, restricted them to hotel rooms and forced the women to depend on him for basic necessities.
Lewis required the women to give him all the money they earned. Lewis kicked one woman in the head, and whipped her during a separate incident, breaking her ribs when she attempted to escape, according to the attorney’s office.
Lewis was convicted in October after a six-day trial, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. He’s facing 40 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release after serving his sentence.
A stretch along Bissonnet Street has historically been known as a hotbed for prostitution and sex trafficking for the better part of three decades. This year, city and county officials put forth efforts to curb criminal activity along the street by setting nightly barricades to limit traffic. They say it’s helped.
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“The message the court delivers in its sentence is clear: traffickers do not get to profit from the sale of victims’ bodies,” U.S. Attorney Almadar S. Hamdani said in a statement on Wednesday. “They do not get to use drugs, beatings and threats to compel others to engage in prostitution.”
“Traffickers, like Lewis, are not welcome in the Southern District of Texas, or anywhere outside of a federal penitentiary, and my office will see to that,” Hamdani said.
