Ted Poe: “When Derrick Harper stood in front of a Pittsburgh judge a few months ago, it was clear the defendant was a special kind…”

“When Derrick Harper stood in front of a Pittsburgh judge a few months ago, it was clear the defendant was a special kind of evil person. For years, Harper and his crew of deviants ran the city's most brutal and ruthless sex trafficking ring. The traffickers lined their pockets by forcing young women to have sex with countless men every day. Any woman who attempted to escape their custody was tortured and gang raped. To degrade and dehumanize them, Harper shaved the women's heads with butcher knives and branded them with hot irons. Harper was the ring leader of this massive trafficking organization, but it wasn't until four of his young victims bravely escaped and testified against him that justice was served. His attempts to rob these women of their dignity had failed, and his reign of terror was finally over. Seeing the true depravity, the judge sentenced the defendant to 289 years in the penitentiary. As a former judge, I applaud this judge. Criminals need to be locked up, not victims. America must track down and prosecute these slave traders and rescue the victims from this scourge. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”