Arizona Man Sentenced To 100+ Years In Prison For Child Sex Trafficking

PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced 30-year-old Robert Hood will spend 108 years in prison for forcing a 16-year-old girl to engage in prostitution for six months.

A jury found Hood guilty on 11 felony counts, including Child Sex Trafficking, Conspiracy, Money Laundering, and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.  On December 7th, Hood was sentenced to 108 years in prison. Hood had two prior convictions of aggravated assault and possession of drugs.

In late 2017, Hood recruited the juvenile victim from the streets of Phoenix, caused her to engage in prostitution, and collected her prostitution money for his own benefit. Hood used his cell phone to record the victim in a sexually exploitative manner in an effort to maintain control over her. Detectives with the Phoenix Police Department’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit (H.E.A.T) rescued the victim from a hotel. During interviews, the victim disclosed Hood had trafficked her for several months in 2017 and 2018.

Criminal Division Section Chief Counsel Blaine Gadow of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office prosecuted this case.

Since General Brnovich took office in January 2015, the Attorney General’s Office has prosecuted 251 cases that are connected to sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, or illegal enterprises/money laundering in the trafficking arena. Those numbers include all forms of sex trafficking and other illegal enterprises involving the sexual exploitation of others for money.

If you are the victim of human trafficking, or if you believe someone is being held by a human trafficker, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP to: BeFree (233733). The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline is a national, toll-free hotline available to answer calls from anywhere in the United States, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in more than 200 languages.