Imagine having a great career as a pilot with United Airlines and being able to find the time between layovers to moonlight as a brothel owner in Houston. And not just one brothel, but a string of brothels. Well, that was the life of former United Airlines pilot Bruce Wayne Wallis until his 2015 arrest. But lucky for Wallis, he’s a white man whose plea deal got him a slap on the wrist after he admitted to engaging in organized criminal activity.
Wallis’ brothel empire was run out of several Houston office buildings and apartments, and on Thursday, Houston District Judge Jim Wallace handed down a sentence of five years’ deferred adjudication probation, a $2,000 fine and an order to perform 150 hours of community service. Ohhhh .... and where is it suggested that the community service be served? A women’s shelter, of course, so Wallis can learn more about sex trafficking.
The local Houston NAACP branch noticed the disparity in the sentences handed down to black and Hispanic pimps in the area and cited Wallis’ white privilege.
“It’s just another case of what African Americans would call ‘white privilege,’” James Douglas, president of the NAACP Houston branch, told the Houston Chronicle. “You get a break for being white and it’s something we’ve lived with all of our lives, especially in the criminal-justice area.”
Surely Wallis won’t use his time volunteering at the women’s shelter to find new recruits. But in any event, although he’s lost his pilot’s license, Wallis will be able to reapply for one in five years. Sounds about white.
Read more at the Houston Chronicle.