A woman who ran “Playhouse of Domination” out of an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky was sentenced to 180 months in prison this week for sex trafficking two women, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Prosecutors revealed that Cleoretta Allen, 41, first used the rented apartment as a BDSM dungeon business.
Playhouse of Domination
According to court filings, the business provided non-sexual BDSM services to adult clients. But when two of Allen’s top employees quit in 2017, her business revenues suffered, and so Allen expanded her business to involve illegal prostitution services.
Over the next several months, Allen used violence, threats, and intimidation to coerce two young women to provide commercial sex acts for Allen’s clients in the Louisville area. Some of Allen’s violent conduct against one of the victims was so severe as to require medical treatment at a hospital. Allen posted commercial sex advertisements for the victims on the internet, and on one occasion transported the two women from Kentucky to Georgia to engage in prostitution.
On Oct. 31, 2017, the victims contacted police.
Now, Allen will spend 15 years in prison with 20 years of supervised release.
“Those who commit crimes of this nature lose sight of the humanity of their victims, that they are someone’s daughter, a person with dignity and value, someone’s little girl,” said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman for the Western District of Kentucky.
“As evidenced by yesterday’s sentencing, the FBI, along with our state and local partners, is committed to bringing to justice those that exploit our most vulnerable citizens. Investigating all forms of human trafficking is a priority of the FBI and we will continue to vehemently pursue investigations into sex trafficking on behalf of victims and survivors alike,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown of the FBI’s Louisville Field Office.
The DOJ says restitution to human trafficking victims is mandatory under applicable federal law, and the district court will determine appropriate restitution at another time.
U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings of the Western District of Kentucky imposed the sentence on Allen.
