Honolulu, HI, United States

United States · Honolulu, HI · 2006 (location generalized to protect survivors)

Per the Honolulu Star Bulletin (5/31/10): "A man who already has state and federal convictions for being a pimp pleaded guilty in federal court today to sex trafficking charges involving three women and a 16-year-old girl. Rodney D. King faces 25 years in prison when a federal judge sentences him in September, according to the terms of his plea agreement. King is charged with selling prostitutes online through CraigsList from April 2006 to December 2007. For much of 2007 he ran his operation from a rental space above a business near Honolulu Airport, according to state and federal court records. His co-defendant, Sharon-Mae Nishimura, pleaded guilty last September to sex trafficking charges involving two of the three women, the 16-year-old girl and another 16-year-old girl. Federal authorities said Nishimura was King's secretary and accounts coordinator. She also told them she worked for King as a prostitute. A federal judge is scheduled to sentence her in July." Per the Department of Justice news release (5/25/10): "The Justice Department announced that Rodney D. King, aka "Shadow," pleaded guilty today to federal sex trafficking charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. King pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly causing a minor to engage in commercial sex; two counts of using force, fraud, or coercion to cause two other women to engage in commercial sex; one count of attempting to cause another woman to engage in commercial sex by force, fraud, or coercion; and one count of conspiring to commit sex trafficking of minors and adults by force, fraud, and coercion. "For his own benefit, the defendant preyed upon vulnerable women and girls and forced them into prostitution by a variety of deplorable means," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Department of Justice will continue to devote its full efforts to prosecuting those who commit such exploitative crimes." Under the terms of the plea agreement, the United States and the defendant agree that the defendant should be sentenced to 25 years in prison. If the court accepts the plea agreement, it will sentence King accordingly. Sentencing before U.S. District Judge David Ezra is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2010. Assistant Attorney General Perez and U.S. Attorney Nakakuni commended the FBI and the Honolulu Police Department for their work in investigating this case and rescuing some of the defendant’s victims. FBI Special Agents M.K. Itnyre and Kristin Lee investigated this case, and Trial Attorneys Edward Caspar and Kayla Bakshi of the Civil Rights Division and its Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching prosecuted this case for the United States.