Man who lured Pierce County teen into prostitution is sentenced in U.S. District Court
A man who prostituted a 17-year-old Pierce County girl with developmental delays after she ran away from home has been sentenced, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
U.S. District Judge James L. Robart sentenced Al-Penyo Brooks to 12 years in prison Friday.
Brooks was charged in November 2020 and later, at the age of 26, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor.
“Outside of murder, this is the most despicable thing you can do … particularly given the age of the victims,” Robart said at sentencing, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “The conduct is simply not acceptable … it is someone who does not belong in society.”
The news release gave this account of what happened:
Brooks communicated with the girl online and convinced her to leave home and that he could promote her music. He changed her appearance, gave her drugs and alcohol, sexually assaulted her and told her to walk Aurora Avenue North and exchange sex for money.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and Seattle Police Department investigators worked to find her and identified Brooks as a suspect in May 2020.
Police found her at an apartment in north Seattle.
“In his plea agreement, Brooks also acknowledged previously recruiting a teenage runaway to work for him as a prostitute when she was fifteen years old,” the news release said. “Brooks also acknowledged threatening to kill the girl if she did not work for him as a prostitute and to assaulting and controlling her.”
He also admitted that he pushed a woman out of a moving car when she said she wanted to stop working as a prostitute.
