Notorious Sex Trafficker Faces Life In Prison

10 Victims Testify About Being Enticed Into Prostitution

Terrence Yarbrough, a/k/a, “T-Rex,” 37, of Memphis, Tenn., was convicted today in federal court on 10 counts of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, the Justice Department announced today.

Evidence presented at trial included the testimony of 10 victims identified in the indictment, as well as several eyewitnesses and others. Numerous witnesses testified that Yarbrough repeatedly enticed vulnerable women as young as 15 years old into prostitution with false promises of love, family and prosperity. 

One of the victims testified that Yarbrough forced her to engage in prostitution the entire time she was pregnant with his child. He frequently beat her on the stomach when she did not want to comply with his demands. 

He had her working as a prostitute in Tunica in her eighth month of pregnancy when he induced her labor through a severe beating. Yarbrough drove her back to Memphis and dropped her off at a hospital. The day after she left the hospital following childbirth, Yarbrough forced her to resume prostituting. 

Sometime later, Yarbrough smashed her on the head with a lamp and kicked out her front teeth when she tried to stop prostituting for him.

At the trial, victims recounted a series of violent acts perpetrated by Yarbrough to coerce them into prostituting for him, including beatings with belts, wooden coat hangers, crowbars, padlocks and dog chains. They also testified to being thrown down stairs, having their heads smashed in car doors, having their legs burned with irons and being scalded with boiling water.

Another victim testified that Yarbrough lured her into prostitution by promising to reunite her with their children, and then beat her severely when she insisted on seeing them and refused to continue working. Yarbrough punched her in the face so hard he broke three of her teeth. 

On another occasion, he beat her knees with a metal pipe and caused injuries which continue to affect her. She also testified that Yarbrough threatened to prostitute their nine-year-old daughter.

The jury heard testimony that one exhausted victim slept through a phone call from a client after serving prostitution clients for days on end with almost no sleep. When Yarbrough found out she missed the call, he smashed her head into a car door, dragged her by the hair to his hotel room, and beat her with his belt. 

Jurors also saw a letter addressed to that victim and signed by Terrence Yarbrough stating that he was proud of how she did not scream while he beat her with the belt.

Witnesses further testified that Yarbrough bragged about his beatings of some victims to other victims to let them know what would happen to them if they disobeyed him. 

Jurors also saw the “T-Rex” logos Yarbrough tattooed on four separate victims, and heard that he claimed that they had been “branded” as his property. Testimony and jail recordings showed that Yarbrough confiscated his victims’ identification documents as well as all their money to make it difficult for them to escape.

Jurors also heard testimony that Yarbrough conspired with his mother, Norma Yarbrough Webb, 65, and Michelle Johnson, 40, to fraudulently obtain food stamp benefits while Yarbrough was incarcerated. 

 Johnson and Webb previously pled guilty to related charges.

Yarbrough faces a minimum of 15 years in prison with no parole, and could be sentenced to up to life in prison. U.S. District Court Judge S. Thomas Anderson will sentence Yarbrough on April 18, 2013.