LOS ANGELES (CNS) - An ex-con who trafficked teenage girls as young as 13 for commercial sex was sentenced today to 281 years to life in state prison. In sentencing Raylonzo Roberts, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry said he perceived the 43-year-old defendant as a ``danger to society.''The crimes involving eight victims occurred at various times between August 2011 and July 2015, according to Deputy District Attorney Guillermo Santiso.
Roberts -- a ``third-strike'' defendant who had prior convictions for robbery and attempted robbery in the 1990s -- was arrested in August 2015 following an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Human Trafficking unit and the Long Beach Police Department.
The Los Angeles resident was convicted Oct. 25 of two felony counts each of pandering by procuring a minor under age 16, human trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act, human trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act by force, fear, fraud or threat of injury and lewd act on a child.
Jurors also convicted Roberts of one count each of human trafficking to commit another crime, aggravated sexual assault of a child and possession of a firearm by a felon.