Jury selection is set to begin this morning in the trial of a former high school and college running back who is charged with sex trafficking and witness tampering.
Deonte Womack, 48, was initially indicted in February 2020 on one count of witness tampering after Little Rock police contacted federal authorities regarding a woman who reported she had been "severely beaten" and "severely prostituted" by Womack for several months and said she "wanted out" but was afraid of him. Last July, Womack was arraigned on a superseding indictment that added three counts of sex trafficking against him. He has been held in federal custody since he was denied bail by a U.S. magistrate judge in February 2020.
At that bond hearing, FBI Special Agent Daniel Turner, who interviewed the victim in November 2019, testified that she told him how, a day after she met Womack in May, he bought lingerie for her and took pictures of her to post on prostitution websites, and the next day, she began having sex with men and giving all of the money she earned -- $250 for half an hour and $300 for a full hour -- to Womack.
She told the FBI agent that she had sex with an average of three men a day for money and that Womack insisted on taking all of the money because he provided housing and groceries for her, the agent testified.
Turner said the woman finally left Womack in December 2019 but that he kept trying to contact her.
He said the first woman he interviewed also said Womack had choked her and beaten her, and was prone to physically assaulting her whenever she got the courage to argue with him.
During Turner's testimony at the February 2020 bond hearing, the agent told U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe that he had also interviewed two other women who said they had also worked as prostitutes for Womack. One woman, he said, told him she'd had a relationship with Womack for about 12 years and that during part of that time she provided sexual services usually three times a day for two or three days a week, with Womack initially keeping 50% of the money and later keeping 100% of it.
The agent said the second woman said she, too, was afraid to leave Womack, recalling that about 10 years earlier he "choked her until she lost consciousness."
According to court records, Womack was arrested in January 2020 after a traffic stop in Bryant after he reportedly showed up at a Bryant school to talk with the second woman's 15-year-old son. Womack reportedly told the boy, as well as a third woman the FBI later interviewed, that he wanted them all to "get on the same page" about what they would tell the FBI about his dealings with the women, to avoid or minimize any charges that might be filed against him.
The third woman, according to Turner's February 2020 testimony, told him that she had been working for Womack as a prostitute for three years, usually servicing two to five "dates" a day, with all the money going to Womack.
On July 28, 2022, Womack was arraigned on a superseding indictment that added three sex trafficking counts to the witness tampering count he was already charged with. Womack, through his attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr., pleaded innocent to all counts against him.
After a pre-trial conference scheduled for 9 a.m. this morning, U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, along with Hall and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristin Bryant and Katie Hinojosa, will begin selecting the jury. The trial is expected to conclude Friday.
Womack, a 1993 graduate of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, was a star running back for SMU between 1993 and 1997 and led the Mustangs to wins over the Arkansas Razorbacks in 1995, 1996 and 1997, including a 212-yard performance in 1997 when SMU beat Arkansas 31-9.
If he is convicted of sex trafficking, Womack could face a maximum penalty of life in prison. If he is convicted of witness tampering, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison.