Friday, December 15, 2023

Defendant Allan Woods Sentenced to 20 Years for Aggravated Assault of Victim

Decatur, Ga.- DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announces a conviction by jury trial in the case of a Decatur area mother and son accused of pimping a woman for sex.

On Thursday, a jury found Vanessa Woods, 53, and her son, Allan Sanchez Woods, 30, guilty on charges of Pimping.   Additionally, Allan Woods was found guilty of Armed Robbery and Aggravated Assault stemming from an incident on April 25, 2022. 

According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded to a domestic assault call in the 2000 block of Candler Road in unincorporated Decatur and met with the victim, who was 28 at the time.  The woman told police Defendant Woods had punched her in the face, choked her and slammed her to the ground.  The victim tried to call police to report the assault, but Defendant Woods punched her in the face again and took her phone.

The victim flagged down a man who was walking nearby and asked to use his phone.  As she placed a call, Defendant Woods pulled up in a car, pointed a gun at the man and said, “this is my phone now.”  Defendant Woods took the good Samaritan’s phone from the woman before driving off. 

The victim told investigators that she initially met Woods on a dating website, but that he almost immediately began to control her.  She said Defendant Woods was her pimp and that his mother, Vanessa Woods, would post on websites advertising the victim’s services.  For about a year, the victim performed sexual acts for money and then turned the money over to Defendant Allan Woods.  She told investigators that Allan Woods would not let her leave the house, kept her from seeing her family, deprived her of food and would often take away her phone.   

Defendant Vanessa Woods also drove the victim to locations to perform sex acts.  The victim showed investigators text messages ordering her to have sex with someone.  Those messages came from a phone number connected to the defendants.  

In statements to investigators both defendants admitted to posting the victim on websites for sex. 

Immediately following the conviction, Senior Judge David B. Irwin, who presided over the trial, sentenced Defendant Allan Woods to 20 years to serve 15 in confinement with the balance on probation.  Defendant Vanessa Woods was sentenced to 12 months to serve 180 days in custody. 

The case, assigned to the Sexual Exploitation and Crimes Against Children Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Charles Ciba with assistance from Senior ADA Elizabeth Tarver, DA Investigator Camella Mungroo-Patterson and Victim Advocate Peggy Remy.   DeKalb County Police Department Det. M.A. Williams led the initial investigation.