NE man convicted on child prostitution charges

Enoch Smith

A federal jury convicted a Northeast pimp on child prostitution charges on Friday, just days after a Bucks County court sentenced him to up to 80 years in state prison for drugging and raping adult hookers.

Enoch Smith, 36, also was convicted federally of producing child porn, which he used to market a 17-year-old sex slave in the adult services section of a popular online classifieds site. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not release Smith’s address of record, but identified him as a Lower Mayfair resident.

Several admitted hookers testified during Smith’s two-day trial in Philadelphia’s U.S. District Court, including an underage victim identified publicly by the prosecutor as “Minor 1.” Now 20, she was among many needy young ladies who Smith enticed into the sex-for-cash business between April 1, 2009, and June 30, 2011, the prosecutor said.

Some of the ladies were drug addicts before they met Smith, others became drug addicts thanks to him, according to their testimony. Smith routinely supplied them with heroin and crack and allowed several to live in his home, where they turned tricks and gave Smith all the proceeds. Smith had sex with some of the hookers, too.

Smith took nude and semi-nude photos of the young ladies, including the 17-year-old, and posted them on Backpage.com, the prosecutor said. He equipped each of them with a mobile phone and posted their phone numbers on the Web site.

Philadelphia police spotted the online ads and raided Smith’s house as part of an undercover sting operation in June 2011. They found sexually explicit images of the 17-year-old on Smith’s computer.

Smith, who is also known by the aliases “Drees” and “Idris,” faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years for sex trafficking a minor, as well as a minimum 10 years and possible life for producing child porn. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 31.

Smith is already serving at least 40 years and up to 80 in state prison for 14 crimes, including rape, promoting prostitution and drug delivery. A Bucks County judge sentenced Smith on July 22, according to published reports.

During his April trial in that case, victims testified that Smith ran the operation out of motels in Bensalem and Philadelphia, and that they depended on him to feed their drug addictions. One of the victims reportedly testified that Smith raped her after she told him she didn’t want to continue selling her body. She was 19 at the time. ••