A Texas woman who says she was forced into prostitution at age 21 has publicly recounted more than a decade of sex trafficking, beatings and psychological abuse that she said ended only after a near-fatal assault and the conviction of a man she identified as her pimp.
Angela Williams, 41, said she was coerced into sex work beginning in 2006 and later controlled by Tyree Wright, whom she described as a boyfriend who became her trafficker. Wright was convicted in 2018 of sex trafficking, second-degree kidnapping and battery and was sentenced to 29 years in prison, according to Williams and court records discussed in interviews and public accounts. Williams also testified in 2021 against music producer Jamal “Mally Mall” Rashid, who pleaded guilty to running a prostitution ring and received a 33-month sentence.
Williams described growing up in a poor neighborhood of Houston, raised by a single mother and seeing her early ambitions — she said she dreamed of becoming a marine biologist — constrained by financial hardship. She left school at 17, moved into her own apartment and began working as a dancer to try to make ends meet.
In 2006, at 21, Williams said she accepted an invitation from an acquaintance to join a road trip that she believed would offer better pay. She told investigators and reporters the trip instead culminated in Las Vegas, where she was forced to walk streets and have sex with men while being watched and guarded. Over time she said she became isolated from friends and family and was told she had no support.
Williams said she met Wright in May 2015 through other women she worked with. She told interviewers she believed at first that he was a partner who would help her exit the industry; she later said he revealed himself as another exploiter who demanded she generate money for him and enforced compliance through violence.
She described escalating beatings and control, including an attack in December 2016 when she had arranged to flee and had rented an apartment on the other side of the city. Williams said Wright confronted her, produced a metal baton and repeatedly struck her, causing fractures to her skull, left forearm and hand. Doctors treating her in hospital, Williams said, inserted a rod in her finger and a metal plate in her arm and documented dozens of welts across her face and body. A passerby helped get her to emergency care after Wright fled, she said.
Williams gave a police statement while hospitalized and moved into a women’s refuge following Wright’s arrest. She described a slow recovery marked by memory loss, nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder. Williams attended Wright’s sentencing hearing in 2018 and told reporters she felt only hatred for him at that point.
Since then, Williams has participated in anti-trafficking advocacy and testified in other cases related to organized prostitution, including the 2021 prosecution of Rashid. She said therapy helped her recovery and that she has worked with organizations focused on preventing sex trafficking and supporting survivors. Williams is the mother of a six-year-old daughter and said protecting her child is a daily priority.
Williams has publicly recounted her experiences as part of broader efforts to raise awareness about how traffickers recruit and retain victims and to encourage other survivors to seek help and legal recourse. Her account traces a path from economic vulnerability and early entry into adult entertainment to prolonged exploitation and a violent final confrontation that led to criminal charges.
Court records and prior media reports show prosecutions in both of the cases Williams referenced. Wright’s 2018 conviction and sentence followed the injuries Williams reported in late 2016 and her cooperation with law enforcement. Rashid’s guilty plea and imprisonment in 2021 were part of a separate federal case in which prosecutors described a pattern of running an organized prostitution ring.
Williams said she remains in therapy and continues to work with advocacy groups. “Surviving is a choice I make every day,” she told reporters, adding that she hopes speaking publicly about her experience will help others escape exploitation and spur stronger responses to trafficking.