Former Tri-Cities hospital worker sent to prison for trying to pimp a teen girl

A Richland father who tried to pimp a teen for money was told Wednesday that he must live knowing he sexually abused an innocent girl.

The judge was referring to a comment from John R. Abrams Jr.’s attorney, who said the victim was “pretty savvy” about the commercial sex trade and had called “bulls---” on his client’s plans.

Lawyer Scott Johnson clarified that the girl’s prior knowledge of the trade “doesn’t excuse anything,” because Abrams put the girl in a situation she never should have been put in.

But Judge Jackie Shea Brown made certain Abrams knows the teen had zero fault in his scheme.

“The fact of the matter is this — you’ll live until the end of your days knowing exactly what you did to an innocent person, who is going to live for the rest of her days having experienced something that was not what she expected or asked for,” the judge said.

“Notwithstanding whatever level of savviness she had. Notwithstanding whether that was due to sexual abuse that occurred to her previous to your behavior,” she said.

“It certainly should be emphasized that you did take advantage of someone having knowledge of her prior history, which ... is not something you should be proud of,” the judge added.

Commercial sex abuse

Abrams, 53, was sentenced Wednesday in Benton County Superior Court to five years and one month in state prison.

It was the maximum time Abrams could receive given his lack of criminal history, and was the sentence recommended by Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Holland.

Johnson had asked for a three-year, 10-month term. He said while only a 15-month difference in recommendations, that was a significant amount of time to his client whose wife must care for their two kids while Abrams is behind bars.

Abrams entered Alford pleas last month to commercial sex abuse of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor.

An Alford plea means he denied committing the crimes but believed a jury would convict him after reviewing the evidence.

The plea was part of a global resolution with federal prosecutors.

Abrams has been under federal indictment since July 2017 for enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of attempted child sex trafficking. That case in Richland’s U.S. District Court will now be dismissed.

At the start of Wednesday’s 1 1/2-hour hearing, Abrams confirmed that he did not have an issue with Judge Shea Brown sentencing him even though her father, Senior Judge Ed Shea, has been presiding over the federal case.

Hospital network administrator

Abrams worked as a network administrator in information technology at Trios Health when he first was arrested in March 2017. He initially was charged with child pornography in Superior Court, but that case was dismissed when he was indicted.

Court documents show that Abrams — who also goes by John R. Pine — was introduced to the girl by another man.

Abrams and the girl initially met in a Richland park, and Abrams talked about wanting to be her pimp. “He talked about how professional prostitutes act and how amateur prostitutes act,” documents said.

Abrams then drove her to another park, where they smoked marijuana and he sexually assaulted her.

He used a cellphone app to message her and to ask for nude pictures of her to use in advertising.

The girl later shared those text messages with police, including a nude picture Abrams sent of himself.

The prosecutor said Wednesday that even though the victim in this case was at the age of consent, she was a vulnerable child and Abrams knew about her prior sexual abuse based on her texts.

Testosterone therapy

Abrams has tried to blame his hypersexual behavior on testosterone therapy he started receiving about three years ago. But Holland pointed to statements he made to the girl that “this was not his first foray into some of these service-type relationships.”

Abrams insisted Wednesday that testosterone therapy played a role in his world crashing down on him.

He had been on the verge of divorce, abusing marijuana and alcohol, and all he could think about was sex, said Abrams, who spoke to the judge for seven minutes.

He said the last three years have been the worst and the best of his life, and credited it with renewing his faith in God.

Abrams apologized to the victim, his family, the police, the judicial system, his church community and the community as a whole for the pain and suffering he may have caused. He also said he was sorry to Trios and its employees for dragging the hospital’s name into it his arrest.

‘I regret the choices’

“I have found little to be proud of and much to regret,” said Abrams, who had nearly a dozen supports in the courtroom. “More than anything, I regret the choices that made this possible.”

He said he knows he doesn’t deserve it, but asked for the judge’s mercy for the sake of his family.

“Certainly the victim in this case was innocent and she paid the highest price, so that trumps anybody else’s price today,” replied Judge Shea Brown. “And secondly, certainly your family is in line to have paid the next highest price.”

The judge also recognized the many letters of support that were turned in on his’ behalf.

“You’ve been blessed with numerous folks who care for you enough to recognize that you made a terrible choice, and they are willing to see you put in the hard work to make yourself a better person and to never cross paths with this court again,” she said.

The defense asked that Abrams be given credit for the 252 days he spent in the Sunnyside jail while in federal custody, and then the 439 days he was on electronic home monitoring while awaiting federal trial.

That will reduce the time he spends in prison by nearly two years.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 7:33 PM.