‘Little more than a slave master’: CA man sentenced to 17+ years for forcing women into prostitution

A 33-year-old California man was sentenced Friday to 210 months in prison for six federal felonies related to his involvement with a multi-state sex trafficking scheme.

Brandon Denzel Washington compelled women into prostitution through assaults, threats, fraud, and manipulation, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

Washington was convicted in March of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking through force, fraud, and coercion; one count of sex trafficking by fraud and coercion; and four counts of transporting women with the purpose of prostitution through coercion and enticement.

“For nearly ten years this defendant supported a lavish lifestyle while preying on young, vulnerable women and forcing, defrauding, and coercing them into prostitution,” said First Assistant Neil Floyd. “Multiple victims were brave enough to testify in court and told harrowing stories of abuse – emotional, mental, and physical – that Washington employed to keep them earning money for his benefit. This lengthy prison term is justly deserved.”

Retired Bellevue Police officer working security first uncovered the scheme

Several victims testified about Washington trafficking and transporting them to and from Washington, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Hawaii between 2014 and 2021, according to records filed in the case.

A retired Bellevue Police officer working security first uncovered the scheme when he noticed a large number of men visiting a Bellevue luxury apartment building over several weeks.

Law enforcement soon analyzed financial records, travel records, ads for commercial sex posted in online forums, and social media posts to identify potential victims and gather evidence.

The DOJ noted that five of Washington’s sex trafficking victims testified at the trial, with some describing brutal assaults and threats Washington would use to keep the victims under his control and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for him through the commercial sex acts.

Once the women were free from Washington’s control, they were left without any of the money they had earned. Evidence from the trial showed that Washington had used his victims’ earnings to fund luxury apartments in Seattle, Bellevue, Las Vegas, and Florida.

Washington also purchased designer clothes, fine dining, and luxury vehicles. From one victim, he acquired a Bentley car worth more than $120,000, which Washington then wrapped in gold. Washington also used his social media accounts to boast about his lifestyle in an attempt to recruit more women into the scheme.

Prosecutors showed text messages where Washington described controlling his victims

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones told Washington that he “may have perceived [himself] as ‘King Bentley,'” but he was “little more than a slave master.”

At the trial, prosecutors showed text messages and messages from social media where Washington described hundreds of thousands of dollars he took from the women he had control over. In the messages, Washington also discussed the violence he used to control them and the manipulation and promises he would use to recruit other victims.

In some text messages, Washington wrote that he was looking for victims with low self-esteem or who were particularly vulnerable targets whom he could force and manipulate into sex work.

“The seriousness of Washington’s crimes is magnified by his use of physical, mental, and emotional coercion to prey upon and control his victims,” prosecutors wrote in asking the court for a 292-month sentence. “He put them in danger every day he used them – forcing them into being completely vulnerable to strange men who could arrest them or rape them.

“He used their prostitution earnings to live a flashy, luxurious lifestyle, buying himself luxury items, traveling, and living in high-end apartments – leaving his victims with nothing to show for the months and years they dedicated to Washington,” prosecutors continued. “He referred to them as ‘h***’ and ‘b******’ who had no worth and no dignity, and whose sole purpose was to make him money. He talked derisively about them and to them and bragged in his text messages about his vicious assaults.”

Judge Jones will determine the amount of restitution Washington must pay to the victims at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 11.

Following Washington’s prison term, he will be on 10 years of supervised release with requirements that he complete treatment for domestic violence.

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