San Ramon Sex Trafficking Trial Ends in Guilty Verdict

The two men accused of taking advantage of three runaway underage girls and pimping them out of their San Ramon house were convicted by a jury in Martinez Tuesday, the Contra Costa Times reports. 

Duane Fields, 33, of San Ramon and Claudiens Griffin, 21, of Sacramento were found guilty on multiple counts. Sentencing will be in May and Fields faces up to 10 years, 8 months in prison and Griffin is facing more than 20 years.

The Contra Costa Times story, by Malaika Fraley, gives details on the crimes Fields and Griffin were convicted of:

The victims were 13, 16, and 17 when they ran away from a Sacramento foster care receiving center and were picked up by strangers at a light rail station and brought to Fields' San Ramon house to be prostitutes.

Both defendants used threats, violence and other forms of intimidation to get the two older girls to have sex with men in Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Sacramento counties over eight days in April 2009, deputy district attorney Chad Mahalich told the jury.

"I think it was a just verdict, especially in the case of Fields because he is a predator," Mahalich said.

Follow San Ramon Patch on:
Facebook — facebook.com/SanRamonPatch
Twitter — twitter.com/SanRamonPatch

You can signup for San Ramon Patch's daily newsletter here: sanramon.patch.com/newsletters