Portier Govan

A man convicted of several crimes stemming from luring a then-18-year-old Bowling Green woman into illegal sex work was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers handed down the sentence against Portier Govan, 39, of Memphis, months after a jury found him 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.

A jury convicted Govan of the offenses at a trial that concluded in December, hearing evidence that a chance meeting between Govan and the woman on Aug. 8, 2022, at a Scottsville Road gas station marked the start of a tumultuous period in which the teenager engaged in four acts of sex work, with all the money eventually going to Govan.

Jurors heard testimony that Govan got into an argument with the woman’s ex-boyfriend when they happened to encounter him at a retail store, and that the ex-boyfriend later called police after finding the woman’s car outside of the motel where she was staying.

In between those two incidents, Govan pointed a gun at the woman’s head while they were in her car and then fired a shot in front of her body, damaging the car.

The woman, who testified under the pseudonym “C.C.”, also said that Govan sexually assaulted her in the motel where they were staying.

Govan and his co-defendant, Brittany Howard, were arrested Aug. 11, 2022, by the Bowling Green Police Department.

Howard pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting interstate transportation for prostitution and to obstruction, and was sentenced to time served after having spent more than two years behind bars awaiting trial.

Stivers said that the nature of the offenses in this case, plus Govan’s prior criminal history involving convictions for multiple violent offenses warranted a lengthy sentence.

“The notion of sexual enslavement of someone less powerful than yourself I view as a most serious offense,” Stivers said while handing down the sentence Wednesday, going on to describe Govan as “one of the most violent and dangerous people I’ve had come through my courtroom.”

Addressing the court at his sentencing, Govan claimed that he did not receive a fair trial and that C.C. and Howard both gave self-serving testimony.

Govan’s attorney, Brian Sergent, argued for Govan to receive a 15-year sentence.

Sergent said that Govan’s criminal history was the product of an upbringing without a father figure in which Govan spent his formative years adrift on the streets of Memphis, susceptible to drugs and violence.

Prior stints in prison left Govan with no useful skills and a lack of meaningful access to treatment for various mental health issues, Sergent said.

“I think Portier is the prime example of somebody who slipped through the cracks of society,” Sergent said.

Attorney Francisco Zornosa, a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, called for Govan to receive a life sentence, saying Wednesday that the evidence at trial and Govan’s prior convictions demonstrate that he is a “danger to society.”

“C.C. is never going to be the same, the rest of her life will be shaped by the traumatic experience she had at the hands of this defendant,” Zornosa said in court.