View full sizePortland Police Officer John Maul (left) talks with two other officers near Southeast 82nd Avenue. The work of Maul and other officers in that part of town has helped lead to the arrest and indictment of pimps. While pimps used to receive relatively light sentences, some are now being sent away for 25 years or more.Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

It used to be that men caught coercing young women into having sex with as many as a dozen johns a day in the motels and dark side streets of Multnomah County typically headed to prison for no more than two to three years.

Last year, the average sentence for a pimp in the state's prostitution hub jumped to 12 years. And some received prison terms double that or longer.

Last week, a Portland judge underscored the seriousness of sex trafficking when he sentenced a repeat pimp to life in prison with no possibility of release -- the first time prosecutors or police had seen that happen.

The dramatic shift comes as the criminal justice system targets pimps like never before -- presenting persuasive cases to juries and judges that not only document their crimes, but show the lasting damage the men do.

Judge Jean Maurer stopped short of referring to the trade as slavery, but the implication was clear when she sentenced 21-year-old pimp Latrell Earvin Poston of Portland to nearly 25 years in prison last September.

"I accept the fact that the life of a pimp is glamorized in songs, in movies, in magazines, but it is at its core -- at its core -- people selling other people for money," Maurer said. "It is as harmful to that person as anything I could imagine. ... And there really is just no place in our society for people who sell other people."

A month later, Judge Christopher Marshall locked away a 36-year-old Portland man for more than 40 years, deeming him a "dangerous offender." The sentence reflected Keoni Harold Warren's criminal history, including whipping his daughter with an electrical cord, and the seriousness of his most recent crime: ordering a woman to work for him as a prostitute, then shooting her in the leg when she became uncooperative.

Hightower, 45, claimed he was a benevolent big-brother figure who helped down-and-out girls and that he earned an honest living with his Portland limo business. A jury didn't buy it.

The long prison sentences are turning heads, especially among defense lawyers who argue the time is disproportionate to the crime. Christian Day, the attorney who represented Latrell Poston, called his client's sentence "staggering."

"It sent ripples throughout the courthouse," he said.

Sex trafficking focus

Players in the criminal justice system credit police, probation officers, social workers, jailers and prosecutors for the shift -- which began roughly five years ago.

In 2007, because of constitutionality concerns, Portland did away with its prostitution-free zone -- a section of 82nd Avenue where officers could ban suspected prostitutes. A year later, neighbors were complaining loudly of an obvious upswing in prostitution, evidenced by needles and condoms discarded in their yards and women in tight clothes strolling the sidewalks.

The city responded by tripling the number of detectives and officers devoted to sex trafficking: from two to six today. And the district attorney's office devoted a position to battle prostitution.

J.R. Ujifusa, the Multnomah County deputy district attorney who prosecutes more pimps than anyone else in the state, doesn't use the word "prostitutes," but refers to "victims" or "women involved in prostitution."

View full sizeA pimp snapped this photo of money spread across a motel bed. He was later arrested and convicted. Prosecutors say its common for pimps to snap photos of themselves with cash, cars or other objects they buy.Multnomah County District Attorney

The old approach wasn't working. "We would write them a ticket and they'd be back on the street in three or four hours," said Portland police Officer Mike Gallagher, who has fought prostitution for 19 years and now is a member of the East Precinct's Prostitution Coordination Team. "We wanted to make an impact and keep them off the streets."

Today, virtually every woman arrested for the first time in Multnomah County for prostitution is offered the option of having her case dismissed if she agrees to go through a program offered by LifeWorks Northwest.

At the street level, officers and detectives assigned to sex trafficking regularly hand out their cell phone numbers to the young women with the promise that they'll accept a call any time, Gallagher said. They've bought the women cups of coffee, meals or found them emergency motel vouchers for the night for a safe place to stay.

"We built that trust," Gallagher said.

Women often hesitate to testify because they fear their pimps will beat them up or worse if acquitted. Or even if the pimps are convicted, their associates will carry out some form of punishment.

Despite those worries, an unprecedented four victims testified against Hightower, the pimp sentenced to life.

"That's huge, when all the pimp has done is convince her that the police are bad," Gallagher said.

Today, prostitution takes place in every corner of the state -- from Brookings to Bend, Lakeview to La Grande -- thanks to the Internet.

But most prostitution still happens in Multnomah County, the state's most populous county, and the prosecutors here pursue pimps with the resources and vigor of nowhere else: 41 have been sentenced in the past five years, far more than other counties in the metro area.

Not all of the pimps were men -- six were women. Many were in their 20s or 30s, but several were as young as 18 or 19 and one was 63. Most lived in Portland, but one lived in Vancouver. Two others lived in Wilsonville.

Pimps are notoriously difficult to identify because victims are so reluctant to give up their names. Many prostitutes claim they work for themselves, even though the vast majority work for pimps.

Prosecutors here are getting a big assist from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, which in 2010 started funding a position to find pimps who continue to work while in jail.

Sgt. Jesse Luna takes note of inmates who get visits from multiple so-called "girlfriends." The women put money on inmate accounts -- possible earnings from prostitution. Luna reads inmate mail and listens to their phone calls. He's proven to be a key witness in cases that have netted long sentences for pimps.

Luna isn't startled anymore about how blatant some pimps are even though they know their phone calls are recorded. He's heard pimps prod the women to work more, ask to see the sex-for-money ads they've posted online and order them not to spend any of the money they make.

Ujifusa said pimps commonly control every aspect of a victim's life: when she can eat, when she can stop working for the day and who her friends are.

"We see cases where women have to ask if they can eat ... and it's usually for a dollar for a cheap meal," the prosecutor said. "It's 'May I come in now? It's cold and it's raining.' And 'May I sleep now?'"

Ujifusa said he's seen pimps text message women as often as every few minutes throughout the day -- and expect prompt text messages back. Some pimps send associates to follow the women to ensure that they're where they say they are.

Juries taking note

The unsettling details of how pimps operate are leading judges and juries to understand the heinousness of the crime.

He'd seemed smitten with her -- even tattooing the outline of the 17-year-old's lips on his neck. But he also told her she'd need to have sex with strangers to raise money to buy diapers for one of his four children.

View full sizeDistrict Attorney Rod Underhill says law enforcement has gained a new understanding of how pimps work and believes that will help catch and prosecute more of them.Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian/2005

Soon, he required her to have sex with 10 men a day. He beat and choked the girl when he suspected that she'd held onto some of the money from one of her tricks. She testified that he took every dollar from her, upwards of $2,000 in a single day.

Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill said a new understanding of how pimps work will help catch more of them in the future. Police and prosecutors are seeing gangs turn to prostitution -- rather than drugs or stealing -- as a major money source, he said.

And that means detectives need to ask questions about the women they find when they raid gang members' homes.

"I'm looking for guns. I'm looking for bullets. I'm looking for cocaine or marijuana," said Underhill, describing the thought process of an investigator on a raid. "But am I looking for trafficking? And am I looking at the woman in the house? ... Am I noticing how old she is?