A Pulaski County man who boxes professionally under the moniker "Turbo" was arraigned Thursday on sex trafficking charges handed up by a grand jury last November that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
Keshawn Rashad Boykins, 27, of Little Rock, also known as "Turbo Hefner" according to court documents, was initially charged in 2018 with drug trafficking and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime but in January 2020 was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of production of child pornography in addition to the drug charges. In a second superseding indictment handed up Nov. 3, 2021, Boykins was additionally charged with two counts of sex trafficking of minors in 2017 and 2018.
He was arraigned on the superseding indictment on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney, pleading innocent to all counts in a brief proceeding that lasted just under four minutes.
"The grand jury has charged you with sex trafficking," Kearney told the defendant, "the penalty for that offense is not less than 15 years to life, a $250,000 fine and not less than five years to life supervised release."
In addition to the possible life sentence, Kearney told Boykins that he could potentially be sentenced on the firearm possession count with an additional five years in prison to be served consecutively -- or in addition to -- any other sentence imposed by the court. On the child pornography production count, Boykins could potentially be sentenced to as much as 30 years in prison.
According to court documents, Boykins was first indicted May 8, 2018 and was ordered released on conditions by U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Thomas Ray a week later on May 15.
On Jan. 21, 2020, Boykins pleaded innocent to the charges contained in the superseding indictment handed up on Jan. 9, 2020, and on Jan. 7, 2021, Boykins' supervised release conditions were modified to in-patient drug treatment to be followed by chemical-free living.
On March 4, 2021, Boykins was ordered jailed until his case is adjudicated following repeated violations of his pre-trial release conditions.
Kearney noted that Boykins will continue to be detained pending trial. Boykins is represented by Mark Alan Jesse of North Little Rock. Prosecuting the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant.