The 472-year sentence of convicted child sex trafficker Brock Franklin was a big win in the fight to end human trafficking.
Last month, the 31-year-old who operated a large prostitution ring in Colorado received the longest sentence for a sex trafficking case in United States history.
According to FOX 31, an Arapahoe County jury found Franklin guilty of 30 counts of child prostitution, sexual exploitation of a child, human trafficking and kidnapping.
Seven people total have now been found guilty for their role in the child sex trafficking ring led by Franklin.
Franklin allegedly recruited the girls via Facebook and kept them under his control through drugs and violence. He forced them to perform sexual acts on him, and sold their prostitution services online against their will.
Though his defense team initially requested the minimum sentence of 96 years, prosecutors and victims pushed for more—376 more to be exact.
Janet Drake of the Colorado Attorney General’s office couldn’t be more pleased with the maximum sentence Franklin received for his heinous crimes, saying, “A 400-year sentence sends a strong message across the country that we’re not going to tolerate this kind of violence to women and vulnerable populations.”
But nobody could be more relieved to see this man behind bars than his victims, especially Brehannah Leary, who says he “deserves every single minute in those walls.”
“I can’t begin to even explain what he did to my life,” added Leary, who says finally having her voice heard brought her “so much joy”:
“Reading it today, and speaking and actually saying how I felt, and him having hearing and have to sit there and listen and listen to me, that brought me so much joy, and that’s why I came today.”
See more from this breaking story in the video below, and visit Exodus Cry today if you would like to help those trapped in the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation.