WASHINGTON, May 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

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