Go-go dancer convicted on sex slave charges
By Project Q Atlanta | Aug 27, 2012 | 10:30 AMhttp://www.projectqatlanta.com/news_articles/view/atlanta_go_go_dancer_convicted_on_sex_slave_charges?gid=11809
A gay former Atlanta go-go dancer who turned teenage tricks into sex slaves was quickly convicted on Friday and faces up to life in prison on 10 charges ranging from human trafficking to pandering and aggravated child molestation.
The conviction, which took a Douglas County jury less than two hours to reach, came after a four-day trial in which prosecutors painted Steven Lemery (photo) as a predator who focused on underage teen males recruited through social media and quickly ensnared them in prostitution. Lemery ran the operation of a Douglasville home he shared with his wife, their children, his wife's boyfriend and Atlanta drag queen Pasha Nicole.
The conviction comes nearly six months after Nicole, known legally as Christopher Thomas Lynch, received a 14-year sentence for forcing a transgender teenager into prostitution, supplying her crack cocaine, creating graphic photos and video of her and driving her to meet sex-for-pay clients. Nicole pleaded guilty on March 7.
Nicole and Lemery were indicted in April 2011 by a Douglas County grand jury on 18 counts, ranging from aggravated child molestation to human trafficking and possession of drug-related objects, for enticing teens for sex and forcing them into sexual servitude.
Lemery, a former go-go dancer at BJ's in Atlanta, did not testify during the trial.
