Bloomington pimp sentenced to 33 years for trafficking young women

September 21, 2016 at 10:01PM

A Bloomington man who described himself as a pimp received a 33-year sentence Tuesday for trafficking three young women over Memorial Day weekend in 2013.

Lee Andrew Paul, also known as "Black," initially lured a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old girl to a hotel in Rochester where he gave them marijuana and alcohol then took them to the Twin Cities where they didn't know anyone.

He sexually assaulted the 16-year-old and raped the younger girl. At a Maple Grove hotel that weekend, the 16-year-old escaped, found a police officer and reported what had happened. But Paul, 36, was tipped off and managed to elude police. He then directed a 19-year-old woman to take the 12-year-old to Alexandria and "show her the ropes." The child was sold twice for sex that night.

He was arrested that weekend, but later fled while on bail. U.S. marshals found him in January 2015 an brought him back.

Paul was convicted in U.S. District Court last year of two counts of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud and coercion. He was convicted of a third count of sex trafficking by force fraud and coercion.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

Twitter: @rochelleolson

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Rochelle Olson

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Rochelle Olson is a reporter on the politics and government team.

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