Kentucky Woman Who Operated BDSM Business Gets 15 Years In Federal Prison For Sex Trafficking

A Kentucky woman who owned and operated a BDSM business in the City of Louisville was sentenced to 15 years in prison plus 20 years of supervised release for sex trafficking Thursday.

The Department of Justice announced in a press release that 41-year-old Cleoretta Allen, owner of Louisville’s “Playhouse of Domination” dungeon, received the sentence after pleading guilty to federal sex trafficking charges in September. She was arrested on Oct. 31, 2017, after one of her employees called the police to report abuse.

Allen expanded her BDSM dungeon’s offerings to include illegal prostitution in 2017, reaching prospective clients through the internet, after two of her highest-earning employees quit and revenues started to fall. On one occasion, Allen drove one of the women to Georgia to provide a service to an out-of-state client.

She then used intimidation, violence and brutality to force two women to perform commercial sex acts for her Louisville clients. In at least one incident, her abuse of one of the women was so severe that it required medical attention.

Upon sentencing, US Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky Russel Coleman had harsh and resonant comments: “Those who commit crimes of this nature lose sight of the humanity of their victims; that they are someone’s daughter, a person with dignity and value, someone’s little girl.”

“As evidenced by a sentence of a decade and a half in federal prison with no parole, this foul conduct will not be tolerated in the Western District of Kentucky,” Coleman added.

Under federal law, restitution is also required for victims of sex trafficking charges. The DOJ said that the courts will determine the proper amount and penalty at a future date. As sex workers continue to push for more legitimacy and protection under federal law, cases like this make it increasingly difficult.