PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A 54-year-old man already serving a life prison sentence for forcing a teen to work as a stripper has been found guilty of nearly two dozen counts of various sex crimes.
In July 2014, Anthony Curry targeted a 15-year-old girl waiting at a bus stop in Portland. He lured her into his car and took her to his home in Multnomah County.
Curry started grooming the girl for human sex trafficking right away, according to court documents. He got her a fake ID and took her to strip clubs and the girl eventually started working as an exotic dancer.
When Curry would pick her up after her shifts, he’d have “his hand out waiting for that money,” said Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney J.R. Ujifusa.
Officials learned about the situation after Stars Cabaret tipped off Beaverton police that one of their dancers was possibly a missing runaway.
Curry was arrested in September 2014. When authorities searched his home, they found a book titled “The Art of Seduction” that explained how to target and manipulate people.
He was convicted in June 2015 of 7 counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.
Curry’s human trafficking past goes back decades. He was found guilty in Washington State of 1st-degree promotion prostitution in 1994. Five months later, Curry was convicted in Multnomah County for 2 counts of promoting and compelling prostitution and one count of third-degree rape. In January 1995, he was convicted of compelling and promoting prostitution out of Washington County.
District Attorney Rod Underhill said Thursday a jury unanimously convicted Curry of 23 counts of sex crimes, including compelling prostitution, using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, 3rd-degree sodomy and 3rd-degree rape.
He will be sentenced on March 14.