Louisville Cardinals' Accuser Pimped Out 15-Year Old Daughter, Provided Daughters Drugs

Katina Powell

The woman IBJ Publishing's Mickey Maurer is paying to publish a book recounting her story accusing the University of Louisville basketball program  of hiring her and her daughters to provide adult entertainment and sexual services to potential recruits and members of the basketball team admits she pimped out one of her daughters when she was only 15 and provided drugs to her three daughters who worked with her in her escort business. According to excerpts of the book reported in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Katina Powell, an unwed mother of three daughters, entered the world of adult entertainment in her late 30s after she became frustrated with a series of menial paying jobs.

Powell says in the book, "Breaking Cardinal Rules," that she "always knew men wanted her body," and "she liked plenty of sex herself." Powell claims in the book written for her by former Indianapolis Star reporter Dick Cady that she supplied prostitutes and adult entertainers to entertain Louisville basketball players and recruits at 22 parties over a several year period during which a former Louisville player, Andre McGee, was a part of the team's coaching staff. She claims many basketball players only played at Louisville because of the services she provided to them.

The Courier-Journal confirms that Powell has no prior criminal record, although she confesses to committing multiple crimes in her book. Among Powell's shocking confessions are the use of her daughters as prostitutes, one of whom was only 15 years old at the time. Powell also admits to supply marijuana to all three of her daughters, one of whom was found shot to death on September 27, 2008 at a Louisville car wash, along with a 37-year old man. Powell says in her book that she would work with her daughters peddling sex one day and then take to church with her on another day. The newspaper report says Powell's only brush with the law has been with the local public housing agency in Louisville, which has moved to evict her on three separate occasions, including once as recently as last year.

Powell claims she began working as an escort for a now-defunct Louisville escort service, Cheetah's Escorts, although two former employees of the company claimed they had never heard of her. Powell says she has worked with about two dozen women in the business and advertised on the Internet, including Backpage.com. The business she operated went by the name, Flavors Entertainment. Powell says in her book she now works for a company providing cleaning services on-campus at the University of Louisville where she cleans bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms. The Courier-Journal has this bit on whether Powell could face criminal charges for her past criminal acts:

Arranging prostitutes for two or more people constitutes a felony. But Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine said Sunday that people can't be prosecuted strictly for what they say — unless they say it under oath.

He and defense lawyer Alex Dathorne, a former assistant commonwealth's attorney, said police would have to corroborate the acts, either through business records or the testimony of a prostitute or customer.

"Her simply saying so is not enough to prosecute her," Wine said.

He said it would be up to University of Louisville police, who have declined to comment, to investigate alleged offenses if they occurred on campus.

What is not mentioned are the more serious, federal charges Powell could face for trafficking her daughters, assuming the statute of limitations has not already run. Advance Indiana contacted the Louisville FBI office, which says it could not comment on whether there was an active investigation of the matter at this time.