A Colorado judge issued a historic prison sentence on Tuesday against a man who was convicted of sex trafficking numerous victims, including two juveniles, four women, and one man.
Robert Hawkins was convicted of 18 counts, including five counts of human trafficking in a Denver District Court.
KDVR-TV reported that Hawkins had originally been offered a plea deal of 40 years in prison that he refused.
‘I am relieved this monster is locked away for good.’
The seven victims all testified against Hawkins in a trial that lasted a month and ended in his conviction in March.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Lara Mullin said that law enforcement officials realized that Hawkins had been involved in a shooting that was later identified as an incident of sex trafficking.
“Ultimately, what we realized is that these are all kind of co-related — in the process of building that case and starting to really look into what Robert Hawkins was doing over the years,” Mullin said. “We then identified another victim who had been involved in an incident where Robert Hawkins had in fact shot a sex buyer after he dropped her off on Colfax Avenue. And at the time that case came in, we didn’t realize that human trafficking was happening.”
An arrest warrant said that his victims were forced under threat of violence to cook for him in addition to selling their bodies. One victim was as young as 13 years old when the abuse began.
“The girls were required to make a minimum of $500 per day,” read an excerpt from the affidavit. “They were also required to make a $5,000 quota to gain Hawkins’ trust. This quota was intended to help pay for a fake identification and birth certificate in order for the girls to travel to and perform sex work in California.”
“Robert Hawkins … took advantage of six extremely vulnerable victims, and now he will pay a significant price for his crimes.”
KMGH-TV obtained one of the statements made by one of the man’s adult victims.
I am glad for all the victims, including minors, getting justice due to an inhumane action Mr. Hawkins has done to us, and I’m glad he will be serving the rest of his life behind bars! He took our freedom from us, now he got his taken from him. I am relieved this monster is locked away for good. I’m also glad the man who got shot got justice also!
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann also released a statement after the sentencing.
“I’m hoping that today’s sentence will send the message that human trafficking will not be tolerated in this community and it will be prosecuted aggressively,” she said. “Robert Hawkins, like most human traffickers, showed no regard for anyone but himself, took advantage of six extremely vulnerable victims, and now he will pay a significant price for his crimes.”
One juror said after the trial that the prosecutor’s case made it easy for them to convict.
“The prosecution did a great job of presenting really solid evidence, and there were a few questions, and again, we took it very seriously,” said the juror, who did not want to be identified publicly.
“We went through a lot of information, a lot of evidence, but it was pretty apparent what was happening,” the juror added.
The previous conviction with the longest human trafficking sentence was 401 years, which was also from Colorado.
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