On Thursday, January 25, 2018, Washington County Circuit Court Judge Oscar Garcia sentenced 36 year-old Ahmed Turay Jr to 70 months in prison for pimping out a 17 year-old female via the website backpage.com. Turay was arrested in September, 2017, during a sex trafficking sting operation focused on underage trafficking victims. Following a contentious three day trial that included frequent outbursts from the defendant and testimony from the victim, a Washington County jury unanimously convicted Turay of Compelling Prostitution.

On September 6, 2017, detectives with the Beaverton Police Department and the federal Child Exploitation Task Force arranged a “date” with a 17 year-old Washington girl featured in online prostitution ads on backpage.com. Undercover officers observed as the child arrived in a silver Mercedes Benz driven by Turay. When interviewed the child confirmed that she was there for prostitution and told investigators that Turay was holding money that she had made from previous prostitution activity. The victim estimated she made $15,000 to $20,000 over the course of the summer through prostitution activity with Turay. Led by Beaverton PD detective Chad Opitz, investigators recovered digital data from numerous other backpage.com ads as well as prostitution related communications from multiple cell phones in Turay’s vehicle.

At sentencing, Turay complained that he had been “attacked” by the State, before starting to argue with the judge as the sentence was imposed. Calling the State’s evidence “overwhelming,” Judge Garcia told Turay “you still don’t get, sir.” Turay responded “can we get this over with” as the 70 month sentence was imposed.

This case was prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney Kevin Barton. The Washington County District Attorney’s Office is committed to investigating and prosecuting child sex trafficking cases in partnership with state and federal law enforcement.

For more information on the arrest: Beaverton Valley Times