Khari Matthew "King Black" TroutmanGuilty pleas set in sex trafficking
A 31-year-old Atlanta man has agreed to plead guilty to charges he trafficked at least one woman to Tennessee for paid sex.
Khari "King Black" Troutman was arrested by local police on Jan. 19 after the woman called 911 from an Applebee's restaurant bathroom on a borrowed cellphone.
Troutman has agreed to plead to one count of transporting a person across state lines for the purposes of prostitution, according to court documents. The charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. today in U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Carter's courtroom.
Troutman had been charged also with coercion or enticement of a female. That charge will be dismissed in the plea agreement.
The woman told police she'd agreed to prostitute herself and have Troutman act as her pimp when she met him in a Silver Spring, Md., hotel.
But during the trip she told Troutman she wanted to return home to see her children. That's when he abused her and forced her to continue meeting men for sex, which he advertised on the website backpage.com, she said.
President Obama nominates judge
President Barack Obama has nominated Knoxville attorney Pamela L. Reeves to a judgeship in the Eastern District of Tennessee, according to a White House news release.
If confirmed by the Senate, Reeves will replace U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips, who is retiring from the seat based in Knoxville.
The White House news release said Reeves has worked at the law firm of Reeves, Herbert & Anderson in Knoxville since 2002, where she has both mediation and litigation practices concentrating on employment and contract matters.
Before forming Reeves, Herbert & Anderson, she spent about 14 years at the law firm previously known as Watson, Hollow & Reeves, and she has worked in several other firms.
Reeves received her J.D. in 1979 from the George C. Taylor College of Law at the University of Tennessee and her B.A. with highest honors in 1976 from the University of Tennessee. From 1998 to 1999, she was the first woman to serve as president of the Tennessee Bar Association, the release stated.