Teen describes life of forced prostitution to court

Jasmine Simms facing compelling prostitution charges

SAN ANTONIO – A teenage girl told a court Tuesday how she was forced to have sex with men in motels and truck stops as the trial of Jasmine Simms began.

Simms faces compelling prostitution charges.

“We’re going to enter into a seedy underworld that lives here in San Antonio,” prosecutor Ryan Wright told the jury during opening arguments.

The victim, who is now 17 years old, testified that when she was 14, she was picked up by Simms and two men at a bus stop in November 2013.

The teen said she was a runaway. She said Simms and two men, who she knew only as Mickey and Black, took her to the apartment of one of the men.

“Mickey was talking to Black and Jasmine and he was saying that they were going to make some money off of me,” the teen testified. “Mickey was talking to Jasmine, and he told her to post me up and to fix me up.”

The teen said they posted her picture on a website called Backpage using the name “Lady Famous.” She said answers to the ads led to rendezvous at an East Side motel, a truck stop and the parking lot of a convenience store. She said she had four encounters with men and that two paid her for sex. Two others, she testified, declined her offer of sex because of her age.

The teen said Simms forced her to turn over the money she collected.

If Simms is convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Testimony will resume on Wednesday in Judge Jefferson Moore’s 186th District Court.


About the Author:

Paul Venema is a courthouse reporter for KSAT with more than 25 years experience in the role.