A convicted child sex trafficker in Colorado will spend the rest of his life in prison, and then some, after receiving the longest sentence for a human trafficking case in U.S. history on Tuesday.
Brock Franklin, 31, was sentenced to 472 years in prison for operating a prostitution ring that preyed on young girls and women.
Franklin was found guilty on 30 counts including human trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child, child prostitution, and kidnapping by an Arapahoe County jury in March, FOX 31 Denver reported.
He was originally indicted by a grand jury in 2015. Prosecutors said he used drugs and violence to control young girls and routinely forced them to have sex with him, and sold their services online.
"A 400 year sentence sends a strong message across the country that we're not going to tolerate this kind of violence to women and vulnerable populations," Janet Drake with the Colorado Attorney General's office told FOX 31.
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The crimes took place at various hotels across the greater Denver metro areas.
“I can’t begin to even explain what he did to my life,” Brehannah Leary, one of Franklin's victims, told the court.
“Reading it today, and speaking and actually saying how I felt, and him having hearing and have to sit there and listen and listen to me, that brought me so much joy and that’s why I came today,” she said.
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Franklin's defense team originally asked for the minimum sentence of 96 years behind bars, but victims and prosecutors pushed for more.
“He deserves every single minute in those walls,” Leary told FOX 31.
0_Shizl_Gzngahr on November 22nd, 2017 at 21:01 UTC »
They are going to have such culture shock when they are released.
RayBrower on November 22nd, 2017 at 20:54 UTC »
Anytime I see a really long prison sentance it reminds me of a story about the first Commissioner of Baseball, a former federal judge named Kenesaw Mountain Landis:
As a judge, he had once sentenced an aging bank robber to fifteen years in jail.
“Your honor,” the man said, “I’m 72 years old. I can’t serve that long.”
Landis replied, “Well, do the best you can.”
Alice_B_Tokeless on November 22nd, 2017 at 20:54 UTC »
It was going to be 500, but he had a great lawyer