A teenager charged with pimping out two of his 17-year-old former Youth ChalleNGe classmates said in state court Tuesday he helped one of the girls get a cellphone and paid for hotel rooms used for her dates but did not profit from prostitution.
Gregory Stephen Shaquille Rodgers, 19, denied the claim of one of the girls that he also bought lingerie and took pictures of her wearing it to advertise the teen’s services online on backpage.com.
Circuit Judge Randal K.O. Lee told Rodgers he finds his denials difficult to believe. "Mr. Rodgers, your only saving grace is your age. The bad thing about you is, and I don’t know if it’s age, there’s a lack of accountability," he said.
Lee handed Rodgers a five-year prison term Tuesday for two counts of second-degree prostitution promotion. The maximum penalty for each charge is 10 years in prison. Lee imposed the maximum penalty for each charge allowed for defendants 21 years old and younger.
Rodgers pleaded guilty in October in a deal with the city prosecutor.
An Oahu grand jury had charged him with one count of second-degree prostitution promotion, for advancing or profiting from prostitution, and one count of first-degree prostitution promotion, for advancing or profiting from the prostitution of a person younger than 18 years old.
Deputy City Prosecutor Michael Sweetman said the state believed it could prove that Rodgers knew that one of the girls was 17 at the time but did not believe it could prove that Rodgers knew the other girl was also underage.
The penalty for first-degree prostitution is a mandatory 20-year prison term.
In the plea deal, the state agreed to let Rodgers plead guilty to two counts of the lesser charge.
Rodgers was 18 years old when Honolulu police arrested him in August 2013 in an undercover operation.
His lawyer Lee Hayakawa said he believes Rodgers is covering for someone else.
When police arrested Rodgers outside the Pacific Marina Inn Hotel near Honolulu Airport, Zabreian Jackson, who was also 18 years old at the time, was in the car with Rodgers.
Jackson is scheduled to stand trial in state court next month on two counts of promoting prostitution involving a 15-year-old girl in July and August 2013.
In that case the girl told police she started working for another man, who handed her over to a second man, who handed her over to Rodgers, who then handed her over to Jackson.
