Pandering Conviction Leads to Prison Term

WCDA Announces Defendant Sentenced to 10 Years In Prison

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks has announced that a Reno man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on pandering charges.  The case stemmed from an investigation by the Reno Police Department’s Street Enforcement Team (RPDSET) into reports that the defendant was bringing young female victims to the Reno area to engage in prostitution.  The sentence ensures that 4 years must be served before parole eligibility begins. Additionally, the defendant will not begin serving this newest sentence until he has completed a 5 year sentence for an unrelated charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Diondrea Lamar Parker, 22, from Reno, was sentenced last Thursday in Washoe County District Court on two counts of Pandering to 10 years in prison by the Honorable Judge Connie Steinheimer.  Parker previously pled guilty in August of last year after having been arrested in February, 2017 by RPDSET detectives who received information about Parker from a 17 year old female victim. The victim disclosed that she had been brought to the Reno area by Parker to engage in prostitution. During the course of the investigation, detectives identified a second 17 year old female victim who provided a similar account.  Detectives were able to link Parker to having coerced the young female victims into prostitution and using social media to both recruit them and to set up paid sexual encounters, which he profited from. There was also evidence that Parker used violence and threats against the young victims.  Based on the investigation, Parker was arrested, pled guilty and the case proceeded to sentencing.

At sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Erica Jackson played a shocking audio recording of the defendant calling his victims derogatory names and describing how they sell their bodies to put money in his pocket. Parker also referred to himself as a “pimp,” calling it his occupation. Jackson asked the court to impose the maximum possible sentence for the defendant’s unapologetic selling of young women to strangers for sex in order to line his pockets with fast and easy cash.