OAKLAND — A Bay Area man who spent nearly seven years in jail on bank robbery charges, only to be brought to court in a Hayward sex trafficking case, was released from jail through a plea deal, record show.
Charles Goatley, 36, pleaded no contest to pimping, and was sentenced to time he’s already served, in a plea deal finalized in March, court records show. In exchange, human trafficking charges against him were dropped. Goatley was released from jail the same day.
Goatley was sentenced in 2014 to six and a half years in federal prison on charges that he and another man used pellet guns to rob a bank in Alameda. Once he was done serving that prison term, he was transferred to Alameda County custody to face the trafficking case, which stemmed from a 2013 arrest, Superior Court.
Prosecutors wrote in court records that Goatley’s victim ended up at a hospital after he allegedly assaulted her at the Heritage Inn in Hayward. Authorities determined Goatley was posting advertisements for the woman on sex-work websites, a District Attorney’s memo says.
Goatley’s defense attorney wrote in court records that the seven-year delay in the case “substantially prejudiced” the defense due to loss of hotel records and surveillance footage, archives on the websites, and other key evidence.
Source: www.mercurynews.com