Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Defendant preyed on juvenile as well as young adults to support his expensive lifestyle of luxury cars, multiple apartments, travel, and luxury goods
Tacoma – A 35-year-old Washington State man was sentenced today 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 today’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. You can see how profoundly your actions have affected their families.”
“For years this defendant used violence, threats, and emotional coercion to force vulnerable young women into having sex with strangers and giving their earnings to him,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. “He preyed upon teenagers and young women who were insecure and estranged from their families. To maintain control over his victims, Gonzales physically beat them, verbally assaulted them, and forced them to install tracking programs on their cellphones so that he could follow their every move. He used whatever means necessary to ensure that his victims engaged in prostitution to fund his luxurious lifestyle.”
“Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for the criminal conduct he perpetrated for years within the Western District of Washington,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Predators who target and coerce the vulnerable face appropriately serious sanctions under federal law, and the Justice Department will continue to seek significant sentences to vindicate the rights of human trafficking victims.”
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 aps. 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 victimization, all five victims have suffered significant trauma – trauma that they were forced to revisit during the course of this prosecution.”
“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. “This individual used force and coercion to rob a minor of their freedom and dignity, and justice has now been served. This outcome was made possible through the unwavering collaboration with our law enforcement partners across multiple jurisdictions, whose dedication and coordination were vital to this investigation. We remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting victims, dismantling trafficking networks, and ensuring that those responsible face the full weight of the law.”
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.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Olympia Police Department, Vancouver Police Department, Idaho State Police, Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG), and the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Crisham for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Jessica Arco of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case. Ms. Crisham leads the Anti-Trafficking prosecutions in the Western District of Washington.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking