Posted by John de Leon
A Seattle gang member who forced girls into prostitution was sentenced today to 17 years in prison for human trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
DeShawn "Cash Money" Clark, 19, was the first person in the state to be convicted under a new human trafficking law.
Clark was found guilty in November of second-degree human trafficking, first-degree promoting prostitution, two counts of commercial sex abuse of a minor, unlawful imprisonment and conspiracy to promote prostitution.
He was found not guilty of a second count of second-degree human trafficking, as well as charges of second-degree assault and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
According to testimony at his trial, Clark is a member of the West Side Street Mobb, a West Seattle gang whose moniker includes an acronym for "Money Over Broke Bitches."
More than 50 witnesses -- half of them law-enforcement officers -- took the stand in Clark's seven-week trial. Roughly 300 exhibits were submitted as evidence, including recorded phone calls from the King County Jail. In one, Clark tells a young prostitute to tell detectives: "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know" when questioned. In another, he tells the woman to get the word out that one of his co-defendants, who'd agreed to testify against Clark, was "a snitch."
Prosecutors said that Clark and his fellow gang members preyed on vulnerable, impressionable girls and sold them a dream, making the girls believe they were loved when really "they were nothing more than a revenue stream."
Five co-defendants involved in the West Side Street Mobb's prostitution enterprise pleaded guilty to a variety of prostitution charges, including Clark's older brother, Shawn Clark.
The Blotter | Teenage pimp sentenced to 17 years in prison | Seattle Times Newspaper
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