A Little Rock man who police say helped found a violent Little Rock gang 25 years ago was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of forcing two women to engage in prostitution and transporting one of them from Florida to Arkansas.
The indictment, released Thursday, charges Nathaniel Smith IV, also known as "Traffick," with carrying out the crimes from January through April 29 in one woman's case, and from October through April 29 in the other woman's case. It alleges that he transported the second woman to Arkansas from Florida for prostitution purposes in January or February.
As a felon with prior drug and gun convictions, Smith is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The indictment states that on May 15, he was found in possession of a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
In testimony last month that resulted in a federal magistrate judge ordering Smith detained until trial, a Little Rock sex-crimes detective testified that both women are afraid of Smith. She said the women told her that if they don't bring in at least $500 a day for Smith by prostituting themselves, he will beat them and force them to have painful sex with him.
The detective testified that police found the women selling sexual services at two Little Rock motels in April after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an advertisement for an escort on Backpage.com that appeared to feature a girl younger than 18.
Smith was arrested last month on a federal criminal complaint. He was held on the complaint until the grand jury could review his case for possible indictment at its next meeting.
Metro on 06/06/2014