Man who sold teenage girl for sex sentenced to 15 years | Today Headlines

In April 2017, William “Bam” Washington arranged for a teenage girl to be delivered to a man at a Sharonville hotel for sex.

Here is part of the text exchange between Washington, then 35, and Steven E. Ritter, who was in his 50s.

On the way to the hotel, court documents say the 16-year-old was forced to smoke crack cocaine.

This is one of the many times prosecutors have said Washington exploited the girl over a period of approximately four months. He “made a living,” prosecutors said, “from drug trafficking and prostitution of young women.”

A federal judge said Wednesday in Washington that his conduct was “indefensible” and sentenced him to more than 15 years in prison.

Washington, 40, pleaded guilty in 2018 to child sex trafficking. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black imposed the longest possible sentence within the sentence range agreed to in the Washington plea deal.

Ritter has also pleaded guilty in this case and is serving an eight-year sentence.

The girl was in court Wednesday for Washington’s sentencing. She did not make a statement, but a lawyer appointed to represent her interests said she now has a boyfriend and wants to ignore what happened.

“She’s moving forward and I’m happy to say that she’s thriving,” lawyer Tamara Sack said in court.

According to prosecutors, the girl had fled from a foster home. She ended up living in a house in Evanston with several people, including Washington who was at the time in an abusive relationship with a relative of the girl. The house belonged to Washington’s older brother, William Washington Jr., known as “Man.”

Everyone at the house, according to court documents, “knew she was only 16 because they were joking about her age.”

After the text message exchange, Washington and an unnamed man on April 18, 2017, drove the girl to the Sharonville Hotel. Court documents say Ritter paid $ 200 to deliver the girl and crack cocaine.

The story continues

In the man’s bedroom, the girl said she was forced to engage in a sexual act and the man made several attempts to stroke her.

She ended up in the hotel parking lot, where the police found her “distraught”. Ritter was arrested and charged the same month. The Washington brothers were charged in June 2017.

Charges are still pending against Washington’s brother.

Also according to the documents, the girl said that she “was often beaten and believed to have had three miscarriages because of the assaults”. She also described being injected with heroin, forced to have group sex and once forced to have sex after someone pointed a gun at her head.

The documents say the girl’s parent placed ads about her on a website used for prostitution.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Man Who Sold Teen Girl For Sex Was Sentenced