A West Texas gang member must serve life in prison for helping run a sex trafficking ring also operating in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.
Richard Gray was sentenced to three concurrent life prison terms Thursday by a federal judge in El Paso.
Gray in January was convicted of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of persons, sex trafficking of children and sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. He received 10 years in prison for transportation for prostitution.
A co-defendant, Deion Lockhart, was sentenced to three concurrent 25-year prison terms. Lockhart was convicted of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of persons; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; and aiding and abetting sex trafficking of children.
Investigators say the gang members in 2012 and 2013 forced children into prostitution.
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