Trial for sex trafficking of teen ends in guilty plea for Turtle Creek man
Sep. 21—A Turtle Creek man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the sex trafficking of a 14-year-old runaway from New Kensington.
Davon Allen Fuqua, 36, cut short his trial midway through testimony from his accuser, who told a Westmoreland County jury she was transported with a prostitute to have sex with two older men in April 2018.
The now 19-year-old woman testified she initially had sex with Fuqua and a female prostitute in a bedroom of a friend's home in New Kensington in exchange for cocaine and later agreed to have sex with men for money.
Fuqua pleaded guilty to all four felony counts: trafficking in minors, statutory sexual assault, promoting prostitution of a minor and conspiracy.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears said Fuqua could be sentenced up to 100 years in prison. The judge will conduct a sentencing hearing for Fuqua in about three months.
Fuqua told the judge he pleaded guilty to take responsibility for his actions.
"I would like to apologize for the time I wasted. I apologize to the family, to the people that I have caused pain. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Fuqua said.
Prosecutors contended Fuqua pushed the teen, who days earlier had run away from home, into prostitution.
Deputy Attorney General Summer Carroll, in her opening statement to the jury, said the teen was preyed upon by two adults and used as a commodity to extract additional money from men who paid cash for sex. Carroll said questions as to whether the teen consented to have sex with Fuqua and work as a prostitute were not relevant.
"The age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16. It was legally impossible for a child under 18 to engage in sex for money," Carroll told jurors.
Fuqua's accuser testified she rode in the backseat of a car driven by Fuqua along county roads to a secluded home where the group was met by a bearded man she previously described as "like Santa Claus."
There, she and the other woman, 47-year-old Shannon Lynn Shannon, each had sex with the man, who later paid the teen to pose for a topless photograph, she testified.
Prosecutors said Fuqua arranged a meeting for the teen and Shannon to have sex with another man the next day.
Her relationship with Fuqua and Shannon ended two days later at a McDonald's in Harmar, where the teen fell ill with a seizure.
Police said Fuqua and Shannon left the restaurant as responders treated the teen.
Shannon, formerly of Texas, pleaded guilty last year to felony counts of trafficking in minors, statutory sexual assault, promoting prostitution of a minor and conspiracy as well as one misdemeanor offense of prostitution.
She received a five- to 10-year prison sentence. Carroll said Shannon was expected to testify against Fuqua at his trial.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
