Man pleads guilty and gets 5 years in prison for pimping woman and teen girl in Costa Mesa
A Fresno man was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for pimping a woman and trafficking a teenage girl in Costa Mesa this year.
Marice Lavell Curry, 25, pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court on Monday to pimping, pandering, human trafficking of a minor and pandering a minor over 16 years old, all felonies. Curry also will be required to register as a sex offender, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Donald Ray Phelps Jr., 23, of Fresno, who authorities said aided Curry in the crimes, pleaded guilty Dec. 7 to one felony count of conspiracy to pander. He was sentenced to six years in state prison but will not serve time unless he fails to complete five years of formal probation, according to the district attorney’s office.
According to prosecutors, Curry trafficked a 17-year-old girl and arranged for her to engage in sex for money between May 13 and June 4. Curry and Phelps also pandered an adult woman, prosecutors said, and Curry spent the money that she and the girl earned on hotel rooms and other travel expenses.
The night of June 4, Curry and Phelps drove the girl and the woman to a Motel 6 at 1441 Gisler Ave., in an area of Costa Mesa where prostitution is common, prosecutors said.
Costa Mesa police officers found the woman in a motel room and the 17-year-old inside the car with Curry and Phelps, both of whom were arrested.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
