Final man sentenced in massive trafficking sting

SEATTLE - A three-year operation against sex trafficking in our area ended Thursday with a final sentencing phase in the case.

In 2015, Bellevue police and the King County Sheriff’s Office began an operation targeting sex trafficking websites that ended up charging 33 men with crimes.



32 of those men plead guilty to their crimes but one holdout, Charles Peters.  He plead not guilty but later was found guilty by a court.  Today, he was sentenced to 43 months behind bars.  While it was not as much time prosecutors were pushing for, they say it was a huge victory.

The men charged in the sting had used the internet and social media to construct a major market that illegally trafficked women from South Korea and coerced them into prostitution.