Accused Sex Trafficker Busted In "Pimp" T-Shirt

AUGUST 20--A California man charged with the sex trafficking of a teenage girl was wearing a t-shirt declaring “I make pimpin’ look easy” when he was arrested late last month, records show.

Martell Davis, 34, was collared by San Diego Police Department vice cops conducting an “incall” operation at a Best Western hotel, according to federal court filings.

As part of that probe, a detective located an ad on backpage.com “advertising a female for prostitution” and arranged for a July 26 “date” at the hotel. After negotiating an $80 encounter with the undercover cop, the hooker--a 17-year-old girl--was arrested for prostitution.

Officers then used the girl’s phone to text a person they believed to be her pimp. Posing as the teen, a cop sought some pricing guidance: “How much for anal?” The suspected pimp replied, “Oh shit make him break the bank babe,” before adding that the girl should charge at least $200.

After exchanging a series of texts with the suspected pimp--and arranging for him to pick up the underage prostitute--“Martell Davis arrived at the room where the date was set up with the undercover detective,” according to a U.S. District Court complaint. Arrested for pimping, “Davis was wearing a t-shirt that read ‘I make pimpin’ look easy,’” an investigator noted.

A search of Davis’s phone confirmed that the number was the same one used by the teen’s pimp. Additionally, cops “observed the text message conversation about the anal sex inquiry.” A review of a texting application on the girl’s phone showed her exchanging messages with Davis “discussing pimping and prostituting.”

The girl told police that she had not been forced to turn tricks by Davis, with whom she had been “sexually active.” The teen said that she had previously traveled with Davis (pictured above) to Yuma, Arizona, where she “worked as a prostitute engaging in 20-30 sex acts.” On that road trip, the teen added, the pair was accompanied by “other females that worked for Davis as prostitutes and that they all referred to each other as ‘wifey.’”

During police questioning, Davis said he was unaware that the girl was a minor, claiming he was “just helping [her] out,” adding that she paid him for this “protection.”

While Davis also denied traveling to Arizona with the teenager, his phone contained a photo of the girl and another woman “in a hotel room in Yuma, Arizona lying on a bed next to a large sum of cash,” according to a court filing. His Instagram account also includes photos of him posing with the girl.

Davis was named in a July 29 federal complaint charging him with sex trafficking of a minor, a felony that carries a minimum 10-year prison term. He is being held in the San Diego federal lockup in lieu of $50,000 bond, and is scheduled for an August 22 bond hearing.

A review of Davis’s social media accounts shows that he often uploaded photos of himself smoking large spliffs, discussed “my bitches,” and memorialized frequent hotel stays (as seen above, he is a Trump fan).   

In a September 2012 Facebook post, the accused sex trafficker wrote of his disapproval of turning minors out, including references to a sex offender law and pedophilia.

“Let me say Idc of the bitch b day tomorrow and she be 18 if your fuccing pimping or touching that girl your pedifile and predator and imma do more than just Megan's law you bitch ass so put this in your thoughts,” Davis wrote. He added, “I'm coming for niggas like you when I'm smoking wit my niggas and they bring this type of pimp nigga up I'm going to laugh find you and make your life miserable on my dead homies!” (4 pages)