Mesquite Man Gets Life Sentence for Forcing 2 Girls to Work as Prostitutes

A Mesquite man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for forcing two young girls to work as prostitutes. Martavious Detrel Banks Keys, 33, was convicted in February of two counts of child sex trafficking and one count of sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion, following a three-day trial. He received the maximum sentence for the convictions.According the court, Keys — also known as "Cheese" and "Matt" — forced two girls, ages 15 and 14, to work as prostitutes from March to April 2015. Keys placed ads for the two girls on Backpage.com and forced them to participate in sex acts with people who responded to the ads — in some cases up to 16 times per day.The girls worked out of Keys' Mesquite home, and one also worked at Dallas-area hotels.   Continue reading...