Final suspects sentenced in connection to human trafficking ring in Pierce County
The final suspects accused of being part of a human trafficking ring in Pierce County have been sentenced.
Jurors convicted 38-year-old Clayton Tyrone King III of first-degree conspiracy to commit human trafficking and second-degree human trafficking earlier this year.
Superior Court Judge James Orlando sentenced him to 31-1/2 years in prison Friday, which was above King’s standard sentencing range.
“Because the defendant committed such egregious acts and destroyed so many lives, the State is asking the court to impose an exceptional sentence ... ,” deputy prosecutor Greg Greer said in a sentencing memorandum to the court. King fled to Texas before he was arrested, Greer wrote.
A sentencing memorandum filed on King’s behalf said he maintained his innocence.
The alleged leader of the operation, 28-year-old Matthew Jeffrey Holt, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year after he pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy to commit human trafficking, two counts of second-degree human trafficking, and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
He and King got the longest sentences of the 11 people prosecutors charged in connection to the ring.
Phone calls Holt made from jail while he was being held on suspicion of forgery brought the operation to the attention of investigators.
He and fellow gang members prostituted at least 16 victims. Five were minors, and some were as young as 12 or 13, according to court records.
The suspects paid for motel rooms, arranged advertisements and collected money from the operation, which they ran in 2016 and 2017 in Tacoma, Lakewood, Olympia, Lacey and Bellingham, charging papers alleged.
Several of the others charged were sentenced in May after they pleaded guilty to second-degree human trafficking.
Michael Jerome Hurst, 31, was sentenced to 13-1/2 years in prison.
Jamaal Lamont Pinkney, 37, and 23-year-old Quantreyvis Alonzo Smith each got 10 years.
Last year Monjae Nykyle Haynesworth, 24, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree human trafficking.
Charges were dismissed against one suspect, and sentences for the others after they pleaded guilty to lesser charges ranged from a year and five months to two years, seven months in prison.
King was the only one to go to trial.
