Man sentenced in Denver for sex trafficking involving minors

Robert Hawkins, 44, was convicted in March of 18 charges, including:

• Three counts of human trafficking and sexual servitude of an adult
• Four counts of pimping an adult
• Human trafficking, sexual servitude of a minor
• Pimping a child
• Sexual assault on a child
• Two counts of first degree assault

According to the account of a woman who said she worked as a prostitute for Hawkins, he took all the money she earned from commercial sex services and threatened to deport her, according to a search warrant for the accounts of Hawkins.

“She was also afraid of all the stories he told her about people being beaten and deported,” the warrant states.

Hawkins also told her he had other women working for him as prostitutes, the warrant states.

“He also continued to harass her about her posts and ask her how much she was charging sex buyers,” the warrant states. “At one point, Hawkins said [the woman] that she was responsible for what the other girls did and how they made money.”

She reported that Hawkins said women had to earn $500 a day and that they had to “make a $5,000 quota to earn Hawkins' trust.”

“This quota was intended to help pay for a fake ID and birth certificate so that girls could travel and engage in sex work in California,” the warrant states.

Another victim, who was 13 at the time, said Hawkins provided her with alcohol and marijuana while she stayed in his apartment for three or four days, the warrant states. During that time, she said Hawkins told her he was a “self-proclaimed pimp” involved in escort advertisements.

“The girls register on the website, post photos, write a caption 'saying nasty things' and meet someone at a hotel and do everything agreed upon,” the victim said.

Investigators learned the victim came to Colorado with Hawkins in 2019 when she was 19, the affidavit states.

Hawkins was arrested in connection with that investigation in November 2021, and he was also arrested with the victim in 2022 in connection with an undercover prostitution operation, the warrant states.

Despite the arrests, eight months later the victim was posting numerous advertisements online and was known to be traveling between California and Texas, the affidavit states.

Another search warrant described how a man identified as Hawkins was involved in the robbery and shooting of a man who told investigators he paid a woman for sex and was dropping her off when the incident.

The woman involved in the incident told investigators how she was prostituted by the man identified as Hawkins and refused to get out of the slain man's car because she asked him for help, the warrant states .

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