A federal search warrant for Facebook accounts suspected to contain information needed in an investigation into underage prostitution and drug trafficking in Texarkana was unsealed this week.
Yates, aka “Phatboy,” allegedly used Facebook to recruit girls he worked as prostitutes. A girl identified in the warrant as Minor Victim 1, told investigators Yates gave her a place to stay in one of his motel rooms and had sex with her in exchange for methamphetamine when she was 17. A second girl, Minor Victim 2, reported she was 16 when she worked for Yates as a prostitute and described him as her “provider.”
“MV2 further stated that Yates provided her with a place to live, food, and methamphetamine during the time she was performing acts of prostitution with Yates’ assistance in motel rooms rented by Yates,” the warrant states. “When she received proceeds from her prostitution, she stated that ‘Phatboy always needed it for something,’ and she, ‘felt obligated to give it to him.'”
In his public Facebook profile, Yates allegedly refers to a group he calls, “Bumps & Pussy, which multiple witness statements indicate to be a prostitution ring involving underage prostitutes and methamphetamine use in motel rooms in Texarkana, Ark., and Texarkana, Texas.”
The search warrant asks for an order compelling Facebook to turn over records connected to six Facebook accounts.
Yates is currently serving a six-year sentence in the Arkansas Department of Correction for possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia for which he was sentenced in Miller County in November 2015. He is also one of two men named in a federal indictment handed down earlier this year.
Yates’ co-defendant in the federal indictment pending in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas, is Jeremy May. A different search warrant unsealed in February gave law enforcement permission to search property where May lived on Genoa Road. That search warrant refers to underage girls receiving meth in exchange for sex and the distribution of methamphetamine.
May is currently being held in the Miller County jail on state and federal charges. He is facing a long list of drug distribution charges in Miller County.
The federal indictment accuses Yates and May of conspiring to traffic meth in the Texarkana area from Oct. 3, 2014 to March 10, 2015. Count two of the indictment accuses Yates of coercing a person under 18 to participate in a drug operation. Count three of the indictment accuses May of providing meth to a person under 21. Count four accuses Yates of providing meth to a person under 21.
Counts five through eight accuse May of distributing meth in 2015. The ninth count of the indictment alleges May possessed a handgun in January despite being prohibited because of a prior felony conviction. The federal case is scheduled for trial in March 2017 for Yates and May before U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in Texarkana. May is scheduled for trial on his state drug charges in Miller County in December.
