A 45-year-old Houston man, David Mearis, has been sent to prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million following his convictions on five separate counts of sex trafficking involving adults and minors, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.
A Houston federal jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting David Mearis October 18, 2019, following three days of trial.
Today, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt sentenced Mearis to life in federal prison on each count to run concurrently. He was further ordered to pay $921,680 in restitution to the victims.
At the hearing, the court heard additional information including excerpts from victim impact statements two of the victims had prepared. ‘Many days I thought might be my last, being beat as if not human,’ said one woman. ‘I ask that you ensure that no other human has to be subject to the threat of Mr. Mearis. He has created distress and trauma to one too many women and I how we are the last victims of his destructive mind.’ Another victim called Mearis the ‘Devil. I was fearing for my life not knowing how to escape the humiliation that was going on. I have been mentally and physically abused,’ she said.
‘David Mearis was a career pimp who abused, controlled, and exploited his victims. He stooped to a new kind of low by taking advantage of one of the girls who had a learning disability and the mental capacity of a child,’ said FBI Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner. ‘Mearis wasn’t the caretaker he wanted the court or his prey to believe. He was a dangerous predator who saw his victims not as girls or women, but a money-making commodity.’
The jury heard evidence that spanned from approximately 2007 – 2016. Four victims testified about how they each met Mearis while still teenagers and how he won them over with gifts and kindness before using threats, sexual abuse and physical force to compel them into prostitution.
The jury heard Mearis knew what he was doing and that he lived off the backs of these young women and girls. The government described how Mearis exerted constant control over the female victims. At today’s hearing, the court heard Mearis trafficked one victim for eight years, during which she ‘endured his reign of terror.’ One girl began a relationship with Mearis, then 32, when she was 17 after she had run away from her Oakland, California, home. Another victim was only 15 when she met Mearis, then 34. Both of these girls considered Mearis their boyfriend in the earlier stages of their relationships but were eventually forced to engage in commercial sex in north Houston. One testified that they had to engage in these acts daily and at all times of the day.
Related Federal Cases
- Brown, Major Drug Trafficking, Texas 2024 · Texas
- Conoly Freddie Franklin, Sex Trafficking, California 2024 · Nevada
- Jason Dee Taylor, Sex Trafficking of a Minor, California 2024 · Texas
- Jacob Trujillo, Spice Trafficking, Texas 2022 · Texas
- Michael Deon Fulcher, Sex Trafficking, Mississippi 2024 · Washington
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Sex Crimes|Human Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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