A 35-year-old Washington State man was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
Dominique Terrel Gonzales used residences in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, Washington, as well as different short-term rental homes on the East Coast, during the period when he preyed on young women, forcing them into prostitution.
Gonzales has been in federal custody since his arrest for illegal firearms possession in August 2020.
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said Gonzales engaged in monstrous activity that profoundly affected a number of people.
“In many ways, your victims have lifetime sentences as a result of the harm you’ve caused. It is hard to overstate the human suffering and damage . . . The victims in this case go beyond those that you abused,” stated the judge. “You can see how profoundly your actions have affected their families.”
Law enforcement in Idaho, Southwest Washington, and Seattle investigated the case. According to records in the case, in August 2020, Gonzales trafficked a juvenile female, causing her to engage in commercial sex acts.
Gonzales transported the girl across state lines to Portland, Oregon, for her to engage in commercial sex acts.
The investigation revealed that between 2016 and 2019, Gonzalez also forced four adult women to work for him as prostitutes, using force, fraud, and coercion to make them do his bidding. One of the victims was lured from her home in Idaho and then forced to engage in prostitution. Many of the victims met Gonzales through online dating apps.
After he lured them in promising a relationship, he put them to work doing sex acts with strangers. Gonzales arranged the “dates” and forced the women to turn over any money they earned. He used violence and threats of violence to keep the victims working for him.
At the time of his arrest, Gonzales illegally possessed a Desert Eagle 9mm semi-automatic pistol and ammunition.
Three felony convictions prohibit him from possessing firearms: two counts of second-degree assault (domestic violence) from August 2014 in King County Superior Court and one count of unlawful imprisonment – domestic violence, from the same incident.
In asking for a 12-year prison sentence and 15 years of supervised release, prosecutors wrote to the court, “The facts make clear that Gonzales is a manipulative, violent predator who targets vulnerable women to work for him in prostitution and then brutally beats them to keep them under his control…..
“Despite being prohibited from doing so, Gonzales possessed firearms and used them to threaten and frighten his victims. As a result of their victimisation, all five victims have suffered significant trauma—trauma that they were forced to revisit during the course of this prosecution.”
Judge Settle ordered that Gonzales be on supervised release for 15 years following his prison term. Restitution for the victims will be determined at a hearing in August 2025.
“Today’s sentencing is a powerful reminder that those who prey on vulnerable children through violence and exploitation will be held fully accountable,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Seattle Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew Murphy.
