A retired Bellevue police officer's vigilance while working a security job at a luxury apartment building led directly to the federal conviction and 17.5-year prison sentence of a multi-state sex trafficker, federal prosecutors announced.

Brandon Denzel Washington, 33, of California, was sentenced Aug. 14 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 210 months in federal prison after a jury convicted him in March of six felonies, including conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking through force, fraud and coercion. U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones presided.

The case began in Bellevue. The retired officer, whose name has not been released, noticed an unusual pattern of men visiting the apartment building over just a few weeks. That observation triggered a Homeland Security Investigations probe, with assistance from the Bellevue Police Department, that ultimately unraveled a trafficking operation spanning five states and seven years.

"We greatly appreciate the vigilance of the retired Bellevue police officer and the work of the Bellevue Police Department as a whole," acting HSI Seattle Special Agent in Charge April Miller said in a statement following the sentencing. "The breaking of this ring and arrest of Washington may have saved lives."

What investigators found

Following the retired officer's tip, law enforcement analyzed financial records, travel records, online ads for commercial sex and social media posts to identify victims and build the case. Five women testified during a four-week trial about brutal assaults and threats Washington used to keep them under his control between 2014 and 2021, according to the Bellevue Reporter.

Victims described being trafficked across Washington state, Nevada, California, Oregon and Hawaii. Washington used their earnings to fund luxury apartments in Seattle, Bellevue, Las Vegas and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and to buy designer clothes, luxury cars and expensive meals, according to KOIN 6 News. Through one victim, he acquired a Bentley worth more than $120,000, which he had wrapped in gold. He called himself "King Bentley" on social media, where he boasted about his lifestyle to recruit vulnerable women.

At sentencing, Judge Jones told Washington he was "little more than a slave master" despite styling himself "King Bentley."

The charges and what comes next

Washington was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking through force, fraud and coercion; one count of sex trafficking by fraud and coercion; and four counts of transporting women for prostitution through coercion and enticement. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd called the sentence "justly deserved."

Judge Jones will determine the restitution Washington must pay to victims at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 11.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kate Crisham and Celia Lee prosecuted the case. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington announced the original conviction in March.

Washington has filed an appeal of both the conviction and the sentence.