Nathan Bonds, a 42-year-old man from South King County, was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle on four counts related to sex trafficking of juveniles and transportation of minors across state lines. The jury took five hours to deliberate after a four-day trial.
Bonds had been operating in south King County neighborhoods, seeking out teenage girls for recruitment into the sex trade. His scheme came to light when he befriended a 15-year-old girl who had run away from home. He convinced her to accompany him to a hotel room where he raped her and then coerced her into working as a prostitute. Bonds also manipulated the girl’s 17-year-old friend into joining the trade.
On April 19, 2013, Bonds transported the two teens and another adult woman, who was drug-addicted and homeless, to Portland for prostitution. He forced the teens to take explicit photographs, which he then used to advertise them on Backpage.com. The girls were made to hand over all the money they earned.
Bonds’s operation came to an end when both teens returned home and authorities identified him as a sex trafficker. He was arrested on June 5, 2013, with law enforcement recovering evidence of his involvement in prostitution from his computer and cell phone.
Sex trafficking of juveniles is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years, up to life imprisonment. Bonds’s sentencing is scheduled for February 10, 2015.
The case was investigated by the North-Central Sound Child Exploitation Task Force, involving officers and agents from the Kent Police Department and FBI, with substantial assistance from the King County Prosecutors Office. The prosecution was handled federally by Assistant United States Attorneys Kate Crisham and Ye-Ting Woo.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes|Human Trafficking|Cybercrime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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