BILLINGS — A Missoula man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after authorities say he lured women and girls into the commercial sex trade.
The Billings Gazette reports 35-year-old Terrance Tyrell Edwards was sentenced Tuesday in Billings federal court after he was found guilty in February on multiple counts of sex trafficking by force, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in prostitution and obstructing a sex trafficking investigation.
Prosecutors say he enlisted as many five women in his sex trafficking scheme, bullying and abusing them so they’d keep working for him.
Before his sentence was issued, Edwards told the court he was innocent of nine of his 10 convictions.
Attorney Palmer Hoovestal says Edwards intends to appeal his case.