JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An accused pimp who was arrested this summer in Jacksonville has pleaded guilty, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said.
Richard Ronnie Jenkins pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of transporting a person in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution.
Jenkins, 39, of Jacksonville, faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
According to the plea agreement, Jenkins met the victim July 14 after she had posted an online advertisement for prostitution in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Federal prosecutors said Jenkins told her that she could make a lot more money in Jacksonville.
The victim agreed, not knowing that Jenkins planned to keep the money she would make, according to prosecutors. An arrest report previously obtained by News4Jax from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office shows that on July 15, the two checked in to the Ramada Inn on Hartley Road. That's where, according to prosecutors, Jenkins set up three prostitution meetings involving the woman and arranged a fourth meeting for July 16. Prosecutors said Jenkins supervised the meetups from the hotel parking lot and came to the room after each one to collect money, which he did not share with the woman.
On July 16, according to the arrest report, Jenkins brought the victim to a braiding salon on 103rd Street to have her hair done. While the victim was in the bathroom at the shop, she called a family member, and her mother then called the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
A patrol officer responded to the salon to help the woman and, a short time late, Jenkins was arrested nearby.