A jury found appellant, Pete Lavard Richardson, guilty of compelling prostitution of a person younger than 17 years of age. See Tex. Code Ann. Having granted the State's motion to amend the indictment to allege four enhancement paragraphs for prior Florida felony convictions, the trial court rejected appellant's plea of "not true," found the enhancements true, and assessed appellant's punishment at life in prison.
We affirm the judgment of the trial court as modified herein. Complainant was 12 years old when she left her home in Florida and began working as a prostitute. She left school after the eighth grade and had been working for a pimp in Florida for less than a year when she met appellant. Appellant hesitated to be her pimp because she was so young, but became her pimp after she paid him a "choosing fee," an amount of money that a potential prostitute pays to a pimp to become one of the pimp's prostitutes.
Appellant provided complainant with shelter, food, clothing, and, particularly at the beginning of their relationship, care and affection; he was "there" for her and told her that he loved her. In return, she prostituted herself and gave her earnings to appellant. When appellant became angry with complainant, he would curse her, hit her, or accuse her of "not being a good whore.
Complainant was 16 years old and had just stopped working for another pimp in March , when she began working again for appellant and left Florida with him and another prostitute.
The plan was to drive to California, but the trio stopped in Houston for about a week so that complainant and her companion could work and earn money. Appellant planned the trip, decided to make the stop in Houston, and chose the location where complainant worked. Appellant promised to buy a house for complainant after the trip to California so that she could retire.
