TACOMA, Wash. – A man who ran a sex trafficking operation in Bellingham and other cities along I-5 in Washington will spend 30 years in prison.
28-year-old Matthew Jeffrey Holt pleaded guilty to numerous charges in Pierce County Superior Court, including the promotion of commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
The News Tribune reports he and fellow gang members ran advertisements, set up hotel rooms and collected money from their operations.
Five minors were among the ring’s victims, with some as young as 13 years old.
Eleven others have been charged in the operation, which prosecutors learned about by listening to phone calls Holt made while in jail on a forgery charge.