The Morning Call.
A Lehigh County jury convicted an Allentown man of human trafficking after a woman testified in his trial this week that he forced her to have sex with as many as 10 men a day and kept most of the money they paid.
Ramell Scott Hurdle, 36, of the 400 block of East Susquehanna Street was convicted of most of the charges against him, including felony human trafficking, promoting prostitution and criminal use of a communication facility. The jury acquitted Hurdle of assault charges based on allegations that he burned the victim with cigarettes.
Judge Anna Christine Marks scheduled sentencing for July 16.
Defense attorney David Knight said Hurdle took the witness stand Wednesday.
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“Mr. Hurdle never denied he was a pimp,” Knight said. “The two things he denied were that he forced her to do it … and he adamantly denied that he burned her.”
Knight said Hurdle acknowledged that he helped the woman to engage in prostitution and that she was a willing participant, noting that the woman referred to them as a team during her testimony.
Prosecutors said Hurdle kept the woman he trafficked under his control for six months before Allentown police and a Department of Homeland Security agent made contact with the woman in an undercover operation and arrested Hurdle. Hurdle took pictures of the woman in provocative poses and posted them in online advertisements for sex for money. He instructed the woman to charge the men who responded to the ads $150-$800, but Hurdle kept almost all of it.
The 26-year-old woman testified in open court, but The Morning Call generally does not publish the names of victims of sex crimes.
She told jurors that she was working as a bartender to save enough money for an apartment for herself and her two children when a friend introduced her to Hurdle. The friend suggested that she could make money on the side by working as an escort, going on dinner dates with men, and that Hurdle would protect her.
The woman testified that after she was assaulted in her hotel room as she prepared for a date, she believed that Hurdle cared for her and fell into a routine of daily prostitution. She also testified that Hurdle controlled when she left the home where she was staying and often left her without access to food.
Hurdle was arrested in May 2019 after an undercover officer responded to Hurdle’s ad and met the woman at a south Allentown motel. The woman agreed to let officers use her phone to lure Hurdle back to the motel.
Morning Call reporter Peter Hall can be reached at 610-820-6581 or peter.hall@mcall.com.
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