'Branded' victims, text messages helped end a human trafficking operation in Michigan

DETROIT –  She called him Daddy.

For months, the 17-year-old girl allegedly did as the man pleased, going motel to motel with a tattoo on her forehead that read "Tory."

That was his name. The man who drove her to the motels, called her "baby" and "honey," and sold her for sex over and over again to strangers while pretending to be her boyfriend and controlling her every move.

"Can I go to Walmart Daddy. I need condoms and noodles," the girl once texted him.

When he gave her the OK, the girl texted back: "Okay Daddy ... I'll go after this date. He's here."

In U.S. District Court last week, these text messages helped the federal government lock up Tory Anderson, of Southfield, Michigan, for 15 years in a case that highlights the inherent challenges authorities face in fighting human trafficking: victims who don't see themselves as victims.

In Anderson's case, his victim has never cooperated with authorities, not even after he pleaded guilty to trafficking her. Rather, court records show, she has sought to protect Anderson's name, calling him a "great man" who never hurt her or forced her to do anything, even though hospital records, police records, text messages and other witnesses contradict her assertions.

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"It's not uncommon for sex-trafficking victims to choose not to cooperate with law enforcement," federal prosecutors have noted in court filings. "Many victims understandably come to depend on their traffickers and view their trafficker as their protector, or, as is the case here, boyfriend. These victims often don't consider themselves victims, nor do they realize their trafficker has done anything wrong."

Prosecutors have described Anderson as a "Romeo pimp" who tricked a minor girl into thinking he cared for her while traveling together across the country, advertising her in hundreds of sex ads that appeared in Ohio, Georgia, Illinois and Michigan. He sold her for sex and kept the money, they say, and bought her food and condoms while pretending to "love" her. 

And he was an artful manipulator, the government says, alleging he called the girl from jail repeatedly and pressured her not to cooperate, promising to come home soon and take care of her if she didn't talk. He funneled money to her through his mother, records show, assuring her "that they will take care of her."

During his jailhouse calls, Anderson also asked a favor of the girl: Don't tattoo another man's name on your body.

'He brands his girls with tattoos'

Anderson landed on the FBI's radar during a 2019 human trafficking investigation.

At the time, he was a 32-year-old parolee from Southfield who had done three years for armed robbery and had a slew of minor convictions in his past, like urinating in public, resisting police and marijuana possession.

He would soon add sex trafficking to that list.

According to court documents, FBI interviews, hotel receipts, hospital records and sworn affidavits, here is what landed Anderson in federal court:

It was the summer of 2019. FBI agents were interviewing two adult human trafficking victims when they noticed both women had "Tory" tattoos.

"He brands his girls with tattoos," one of the women told the agents, adding that Anderson had sold her for sex in multiple states and that he was often violent with her. He also had the 17-year-old victim who went on these cross-country trips, the woman told the agents.

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He had a temper with her, too, the woman said, alleging he once pushed the teenager out of a moving car during a fight.

The FBI followed the tip and a trail of ink.

The FBI would learn that just one month earlier, Anderson and the teen girl had been arrested on prostitution charges in Georgia, and that the girl had appeared in hundreds of sex ads spanning from March through June in multiple states.

FBI agents combed through the ads and spotted a clue.

The girl in the photo had a "Tory" tattoo on her face.

The motel sting

On Sept. 3, 2019, an FBI agent set up an undercover sex date with the minor in the ads. He was directed to a Super 8 Motel in Roseville, Michigan, where he met the girl in a room and negotiated a price for sex.

The girl had a "Tory" tattoo on her forehead, and one on the side of her face.

Additional FBI agents were on standby, preparing to make their way into the hotel to rescue the girl when they spotted a man get into a car. He tried to drive away but ended up backing into an FBI vehicle, triggering his arrest.

It was Anderson.

According to court records, Anderson had a key to the girl's motel room, along with $1,500 cash. A motel employee told the FBI that Anderson had tried to put the girl's room in his name but had no valid ID.

The FBI also found two adult victims in another room at the Super 8, both of them trafficked by Anderson.

Feds: Texts tell the story

Once inside the teen's motel room, the victim gave the FBI permission to search her phone, where agents found a trove of evidence: more than 7,100 text messages between the girl and Anderson.

He was stored in her phone as "hubby."

The government says the text messages revealed how the sex operation worked, and how Anderson ran the show by doing the following: He confirmed how much she should charge for sex, kept tabs on when the customers were coming and going, helped to facilitate and arrange the dates, collected the money and controlled how much money she could access for her own basic needs.

 Anderson did all this, authorities say, knowing she was just 17, and knowing she was getting frustrated with the business, as revealed in text messages.

For example, on July 23, 2019, the girl vented about a sex date that she wasn't aware of.

"Ugh ok," the girl texted Anderson.

"This will be the last 1," he responded.

The girl also expressed concern about not wanting to be "still hoeing at 30."

He texted back: "U 17 ... Stop ... By the time u 19 we will have workers across the country."

Another time when she was in the hospital, she told Anderson to pretend he was her cousin because she was under 18.

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“This defendant exploited a vulnerable young girl by arranging for her to have sex with strangers over and over again for his personal profit,” said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison, whose offices have prosecuted more than 40 human trafficking defendants tied to 30 cases over the last five years.

Ison is part of a new, national anti-human trafficking initiative that vows to do more to prevent victims from falling prey, protect those who do come forward and prosecute the offenders who prey on the weak.

"It’s the exploitation of the vulnerable," Ison said. "We have (victims) as young as 13. They are looking for a way out, for a better life."

But many are still trapped in fear and silence.

Victim writes letter to the court

On Sept. 28, Anderson pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of children, admitting he prostituted the 17-year-old girl during the summer of 2019. According to his plea agreement, he admitted that he drove her to sex dates, provided her with condoms, communicated with customers and collected their money.

Anderson also admitted that he knew the girl was 17.

All of this contradicts what his victim told the court in a letter just seven months after Anderson's arrest. 

"Tory Anderson never received any money from me, forced me to tattoo his name, asked or forced me to work for him or anything of that nature," the victim wrote in a May 10, 2020, letter to the court.

"I posted my own ads, and worked alone by choice," her letter continued. "Tory had no dealings with any of that. As far as I'm concerned, we were in a relationship. At the start of our relationship, I told him I was 22, which he believed because I had a fake identification card."

"After he became aware of my age we no longer engaged in any sexual or physical acts," the letter continued. "Tory is a great man and never did anything of harm towards me. He did not push me out of a car ... he does not deserve to be locked away and (have) his name slaughtered."

Defense: 'This case never had a victim' 

The law says a minor cannot consent to be sexually exploited, so consent cannot be used as a defense to this crime. Victims advocates argue the same thing.

Anderson, however, disagreed, as did his lawyer.

"This case never had a victim," Anderson wrote in an April 5, 2021, letter to the judge, arguing that his charges should be dismissed because the girl at issue proclaimed "she was never a victim."

His lawyer made the same argument almost a year later when he asked the judge to give his client a more lenient sentence than what prosecutors were seeking. The government had requested a 17½-year sentence, while the defense pushed for 10 years.

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"This case involved a voluntarily agreed business venture between Anderson and the 17-year-old minor rather than a forced relationship in common human trafficking cases," defense attorney Ray Richards wrote to the court. "The two were in a relationship, and they were partners. Anderson acted as a security for the minor as they worked to make a living, albeit illegally."

Richards argued that his client suffers from AIDS, bladder cancer, depression and bipolar disorder, and intends to "improve and rehabilitate himself while serving his sentence."

"He holds hope for seeing his future outside of incarceration and has a desire to refurbish dilapidated residential properties as a means of employment upon his release," Richards wrote.

The government painted a starker picture, one of an unrepentant predator who preyed on the weak.

"To commit his crimes, Anderson exploited the vulnerabilities of (a minor) by playing the role of a 'Romeo pimp,'" Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Lee Carlson wrote in her sentencing memo. "He led (the girl) into believing that he loved her in order to gain her trust so that he could exploit (her) for his own financial profit."

 "This is a reprehensible crime."

Moreover, the prosecutor stressed: "Anderson has not expressed any remorse for his actions."

Under federal law, Anderson faced a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Gershwin Grain gave him that and tacked on another five years.

The federal criminal justice system does not have parole.