Dominique Terrel Gonzales, Sex Trafficking, Washington 2020

A Washington State man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking a minor, a crime that saw him exploit a vulnerable teenager for his own gain.

Dominique Terrel Gonzales, 35, was sentenced on for one count of sex trafficking a minor, a crime that has left the victim and her family scarred. Gonzales has been in federal custody since his arrest for illegal firearms possession in August 2020.

According to court documents, Gonzales first met the victim when she was 13 or 14 years old. In July and August 2020, when the victim was 17 years old, Gonzales caused her to engage in commercial sex acts. He arranged her travel across state lines and directed her acts in a rented apartment in Portland, Oregon. Gonzales collected the illicit proceeds and controlled the victim with various rules that he implemented.

'Today's sentence holds the defendant accountable for the criminal conduct he perpetrated for years within the Western District of Washington,' said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division. 'Predators who target and coerce the vulnerable face appropriately serious sanctions under federal law, and the Justice Department will continue to seek significant sentences to vindicate the rights of human trafficking victims.'

Gonzales's crimes were described by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller as 'a heinous case of human exploitation' that saw him use violence, threats, and emotional coercion to force vulnerable young women into having sex with strangers and giving their earnings to him.

'For years this defendant used violence, threats, and emotional coercion to force vulnerable young women into having sex with strangers and giving their earnings to him,' said Miller. 'He preyed upon teenagers and young women who were insecure and estranged from their families. To maintain control over his victims, Gonzales physically beat them, verbally assaulted them, and forced them to install tracking programs on their cellphones so that he could follow their every move.'

A restorative hearing for Gonzales is set for August 18.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Olympia Police Department, Vancouver Police Department, Idaho State Police, Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff's Office, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG), and the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Countering Human Trafficking.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Crisham for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Jessica Arco of the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case.

If you have information about human trafficking, report it to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department's efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/washington-state-man-sentenced-11-years-prison-sex-trafficking