Former wrestler fighting charges he kept sex slaves

[vorlos]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...ge_tab_newstab

He's known as "The Colorado Crusader," "The Georgia Blond" and, most notably, "Hardbody Harrison."

But this week former pro wrestler Harrison "Hardbody" Norris is fighting off a far more sinister tag: violent sex lord.

It's one that could keep him out of the ring — and in prison — for at least 20 years. Norris, 41, is on trial in Atlanta on federal charges that he kept nine women as sex slaves in his two Cartersville homes.

Serving as his own attorney, Norris has started countering a week of testimony about bloody head butts, maniacal mindg ames and forced orgies called "cut parties," in which women had to have sex with up to eight men at a single gathering.

In reality, Norris contends, the women willingly entered his homes — living with his wife and one of his three children — because they wanted to train as pro wrestlers.

Norris says many of the women arrived on drugs and left in the best shape of their lives.

The women say that may be true, but the push-ups, squats and strict diets were designed to prepare them for something else: prostitution. They say Norris pimped them out at Latino nightclubs, trailer parks and parties until three of them ran to police during a shopping trip in Smyrna.

During the two-week trial, Norris has sported a bright orange prison jumpsuit and a trademark braided beard that, in the ring, was often dyed blond. He has cross-examined his alleged victims and successfully lodged objections to prosecution testimony. This week he began presenting his own witnesses.

U.S. District Judge Jack Camp, well-known for making lawyers move things along at trial, has been patient with Norris and allowed him to consult a stand-by lawyer.

Alleged victims have taken the stand to describe how Norris earned initial trust by bailing them out of jail or getting them off drugs with promises of a pro wrestling career.

One, who was given the name Lexi, testified that she was strung out when she met Norris at a gas station in Cobb County. "He asked me if I'd ever considered a job in professional wrestling," said Lexi, then 30.

"Being on the streets, you get tired. This seemed like something positive in my life."

She moved in with Norris and was given a list of tasks to complete. One, called "HB Training," turned out to be sex with Norris.

Lexi asked the other girls about the last item — called "CPT" — but couldn't get a straight answer. At the end of her first week, as she stood outside a home in Rabun County, she found out what it meant. It was time for her "cut party." As Norris and the others watched in the living room, Lexi had sex with three men.

Norris is being prosecuted under an anti-human trafficking law first passed in 2000. Designed to halt the flow of sex and labor slaves into the United States, the law also has emerged as a weapon against home-grown trafficking.

The government must prove interstate activity, which includes everything from transporting victims across state lines to giving them condoms manufactured outside Georgia. At its core, however, the case revolves around one central question: Were the women forced into prostitution against their will?

Lexi testified that Norris wouldn't let her leave until she paid off debts, including money he spent on her diabetes medication. Once she thought she'd turned a final trick to settle the debt when Norris tacked on another charge for a portrait he had made with her in a casino.

The women say Norris — known for calling his fists "The Pork Chop" and "The Biscuit Cutter" in Toughman matches — made clear that he would use violence if necessary.

One alleged victim, who was given the name Mocha, said that after she had her own "cut party" with eight men, Norris took another woman to have hers inside a hotel room. When this woman resisted, Mocha testified, Norris head-butted her.

"What happened next?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Karima Maloney asked.

"She did what he told her to do," Mocha testified.

A former U.S. Army sergeant and Gulf War veteran, Norris imposed a military-style structure in the homes, several witnesses said.

The more-experienced women were designated "team leaders" who watched over "soldiers." Norris, who slept in the "General's Quarters," controlled their movements and their money, said Rose Davenport, a team leader.

She testified that the women had to memorize "Hardbody's 10 Commandments." The first commandment was "Respect Hardbody."

The 10th: "If you have any questions, ask Hardbody." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution does not name alleged victims of sex crimes, but Davenport is not listed as a victim in the government's case).

Women who forgot a commandment — or broke a rule on a list called "The 20 Things" — had to pay fines into piggy banks labeled with their transgressions. One read "talks too much," Davenport testified.

Norris also kept a list of chores for each woman on the refrigerator, she said. Those who didn't cut down trees, plant sod or cut the grass earned fines for their teams, too.

The result, several women testified, was a cycle of debt they couldn't break, no matter how much they prostituted themselves.

Norris has argued that he was already wealthy and didn't need to pimp. Norris, who is black, was part of a discrimination lawsuit against Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling in 2000. He settled out of court for a sum his family says was upward of $1 million.

Norris' next-door neighbors presented a dramatically different picture of what went on at Norris' home.

Cindy England testified that she saw the women come and go as they pleased. She invited some over to swim in her pool. As time went on, she said, the women lost weight and their self-esteem grew. None seemed unhappy, looked abused or told her they wanted out of Norris' grasp, she said.

England's husband, John, testified that he went to the women's wrestling matches at Norris' house.

"They were getting better every week," he said.

In their testimony, the women conceded that Norris and others taught them take-down moves and how to announce a wrestling match. But no tickets were ever sold to the events in Norris' backyard gym. And the women didn't get paid for wrestling.

The real business, they said, was prostitution. At various Latino clubs around metro Atlanta, men paid $5 to dance with one of the women. A much higher rate — $100 to $200 – would buy sex.

Norris always kept half and often took part of the women's share to pay for hairdos, pedicures and other living expenses, they said.

The highest-earning woman could sleep in a special bedroom called "Queen's Palace." A list on the wall spelled out amenities such as "$200 off fines," "day off" and "private TV." The women said "the queen" only had to have sex with one man: Norris.

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/03/37/11/image_6111373.jpg
Harrison "Hardbody" Norris

HOPE ENGLAND DISINFECTED HER POOL DILIGENTLY.

[The Bobster]

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Nov...tution,00.html

Ex-Wrestler Convicted of Sex Trafficking
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

ATLANTA — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted a former pro wrestler known as "Hardbody Harrison" of charges that he kept eight women as sex slaves in his two north Georgia homes.



Harrison Norris Jr. was convicted of charges including aggravated sexual abuse, forced labor, sex trafficking, conspiracy and witness tampering. He was acquitted of all charges involving a ninth woman, but still could get life in prison at sentencing, set for Feb. 28.

Norris, 41, wrestled for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling organization in the 1990s.

Serving as his own lawyer, he contended that the women willingly lived at his Cartersville homes because they wanted to train as pro wrestlers. He says many of them arrived on drugs and left in the best shape of their lives.

During a two-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Norris as a predator who used his wrestling business to lure poor and vulnerable women into prostitution and forced labor.

"I think the jury's verdict vindicates the rights of the victims who were brave enough to come forward and confront this man who abused them," prosecutor Susan Coppedge said.

Witnesses testified that Norris, a former Army sergeant and veteran of the Persian Gulf War, imposed a strict military structure, with each of the women assigned to a squad overseen by an "enforcer."

One witness testified that Norris beat or threatened them to keep control and that he threatened to throw one through a hotel window when she would not engage in sex with two customers.

In addition to forcing the victims to work as prostitutes, Norris made them work in and around his houses, requiring them to haul trees, lay sod and paint, according to testimony.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14663979/detail.html


Wrestler Hardbody Harrison Guilty In Sex Slave Trial


ATLANTA -- A federal jury found former pro wrestler "Hardbody Harrison" guilty of multiple counts of sex trafficking and forced labor Wednesday in a scheme to force women into prostitution.

Prosecutors said the former wrestler, whose real name is Harrison Norris, forced women into prostitution, holding them prisoner at two homes he owned in Cartersville.

Norris, 41, acted as his own attorney during his trial in federal court.

He was convicted of charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, aggravated sexual abuse, forced labor, and sex trafficking involving eight women.

The jury acquitted him of all charges involving a ninth woman, but could be sentenced to up to life in prison when is sentenced Feb. 28.

[LaKooneshia]

Hardbody Harrison's Cohorts Sent To Nigger College

Two people were sentenced Thursday for taking part in a sex trafficking ring run by former professional wrestler "Hardbody" Harrison Norris.

Two others were sentenced for lying to investigators in the case.

U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp sentenced Cedric Jackson, 41, of Atlanta to five years in prison and Aimee Allen, 37, formerly of Cartersville and now of Clarence, N.Y., to two years and 10 months for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking.

Leslie Smith, 22, of Macon and Michell Achuff, 25, of Lafayette, Tenn., who admitted that they provided false information to protect Norris, each received three years of probation.

Norris, who claimed he just ran training camp for women to become professional wrestlers, was convicted by a federal jury on 24 counts related to sex trafficking, peonage, forced labor and witness tampering. His sentencing is scheduled for April 1.

According to information presented in court, Jackson admitted to working as a pimp in the Atlanta area and helping Norris bail unsuspecting women out of local jails and using those debts to coerce them to work as prostitutes.

Allen admitted that that since 2001, she helped Norris recruit women, many of whom were poor, homeless or addicted to drugs, to be prostitutes, by first convincing them that Norris would help them to become wrestlers.

[The Bobster]

http://wrestlingtruth.com/index.php?..._from=&ucat=3&

Hall Of Fame Rating, Former WCW Star Gets Life In Jail

Written by: Keelan Balderson - 01 Apr 2008

Former professional wrestler Harrison Norris Jr., 42, a/k/a "Hardbody Harrison," from Cartersville, Ga., was sentenced today to life in prison and lifetime supervised release for committing multiple violations of federal sex trafficking and forced labor statutes in connection with a scheme to force women into prostitution. He was also sentenced to pay a $2,400 special assessment.

"These vulnerable American victims were lured by false promises to train as professional wrestlers and suffered horrific physical, sexual, and psychological abuse," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "I commend these women for coming forward and helping the Department hold accountable those who engaged in this shameful conduct."

[Tricknologist]

Vorlos link got memoryholed by AJC. I guess they don't want to keep records of the nigger's crime.

This is what I got from the link:

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