A man accused of enticing a teenager into illegal sex work in Bowling Green was convicted of all five criminal counts against him Wednesday.

A jury of eight women and four men found Portier Govan, 38, of Memphis, guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, obstructing an investigation, interstate transportation for prostitution and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

The jury deliberated a little more than two hours before returning its verdict Wednesday afternoon at the end of a three-day trial in U.S. District Court.

Federal prosecutors argued that the evidence presented at trial showed that a chance meeting between Govan coerced the then 18-year-old woman into sex work after a chance meeting between the two at a Scottsville Road gas station on Aug. 8, 2022.

The woman, who testified in court under the pseudonym “C.C.” said she went back with Govan and Brittany Howard that night to their room at the Ramada Inn, where the pair drank and smoked marijuana together.

Two days later, C.C. found herself in the passenger seat of her own car, being berated by Govan during a tirade that C.C. said culminated with Govan holding a gun to her head, pulling it away and then firing a shot directly in front of her, creating a bullet hole in the front passenger door.

“I was thinking about all the stuff I haven’t done, I was praying I could get out of this situation,” C.C. said when questioned about how the incident made her feel.

After that incident, C.C. testified that her car keys and phone had been taken away, and she did not want to continue in sex work but was afraid of Govan hurting her if she tried to leave.

“To (Govan), she was just an object, a means to an end to make him money,” Francisco Zornosa, attorney with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said Wednesday during his closing argument. “The defendant compelled C.C. to engage in commercial sex because she feared serious harm.”

Govan’s conviction hinged on the testimony of C.C. and Howard, who has pleaded guilty to charges of interstate transportation for prostitution and obstruction.

C.C. said that when she first went to the Ramada Inn, she was tempted by Howard’s description of the sex work that she had been doing as an easy source of money.

However, she and Howard both testified that all the money paid by clients made its way to Govan.

Howard told jurors that her clientele were people who texted her in response to ads she posted online, and that she encouraged C.C. to observe Howard with clients, both at the hotel and during a visit to a client’s apartment.

Howard described being in a relationship with Govan for nearly a year when they met C.C., staying at various hotel rooms.

During that span of time, Howard said she was enticed into sex work because she needed the money, and she told jurors that Govan repeated with C.C. the tactics originally used on her to get her to stay in the business.

“I feel horrible about what I did, because I know what she went through, for one, and I don’t know what possessed me to go through with what I did,” Howard told jurors Tuesday.

Howard awaits sentencing for her crimes.

Jurors were told that Govan, Howard, C.C. and another man traveled together to Nashville on Aug, 9. 2022, with Howard and C.C. buying clothes at a mall and paying for manicures.

Howard said she and C.C. got into the clothes and posed for pictures that were used in ads for sex work, but that they met clients in their everyday clothes.

On Aug. 9, 2022, Govan, Howard and C.C., went to Wal-Mart, where C.C. ran into an ex-boyfriend who put his arm around her.

C.C. and Howard testified that this led to a confrontation between Govan and the man, with C.C. telling jurors that Govan told him “she’s on my time now.”

Govan left the store in C.C.’s car, returning minutes later, just before the incident with the gun.

Jurors were played security video footage from Wal-Mart of the initial encounter, as well as video footage from Ramada Inn security cameras showing Govan running into his hotel room.

Zornosa argued that this incident caused Govan to exert more control over C.C.

Govan and Howard were arrested Aug. 11, 2022, by the Bowling Green Police Department, which was called to the Ramada Inn after Govan reportedly saw C.C.’s ex-boyfriend outside the business.

Jurors were shown text messages from Govan to Howard that Zornosa described as part of a “campaign of obstruction” to prevent police from discovering a sex trafficking operation.

Howard acknowledged taking guns out of the hotel room and putting them in the trunk of a car, deleting information from her phone and attempting to persuade C.C. to lie to officers.

Police body camera footage showed C.C. eventually acknowledging that she was involved in commercial sex after law enforcement said they had heard allegations from her ex-boyfriend.

Govan’s attorney, Bryan Sergent, focused a large part of his defense on C.C.’s statements to police that she was not forced into sex work and that she was acting of her own will.

“She tells (police) twice, I did it of my own will, they weren’t forcing me,” Sergent said during his closing argument. “If she didn’t recognize a threat of force then, how can it be recognized today?”

In his rebuttal argument, Zornosa countered that C.C. went on to tell police that she felt as though she was not in a position to leave Govan and Howard, the prosecutor telling jurors this was proof of their coercion of C.C. into sex work.

“I think it’s offensive to suggest that just because C.C. is down on her luck and thinks this might be a good idea to make money that that person can’t later decide they don’t want to do it,” Zornosa said.

Govan will return to court March 25 to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers.