Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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Some readers may remember when this story of Sean Hart and "JF1" (Juvenile Female One) broke in 2007. Following his arrest, Hart was charged with 11 criminal counts - including transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes - after he allegedly arranging for a 12-year-old California girl to be flown up to Washington...with the apparent intent of "pimping" her on the streets. Over a 12 day period, Hart forced the girl - sometimes with the help of his fists - to whore herself out and do all sorts of sexually degrading activities.

Few would disagree at the heinousness of such sleaze. So when I saw a P.I. story last week about Hart receiving an "extraordinary" jail term for his crimes, I was pleased.

Until I saw just how "extraordinary" the sentence was:

A Seattle pimp who turned a 12-year-old girl into a prostitute received an extraordinary five-year prison term Friday.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour cited the victim's age in sentencing Sean Hart to a term that is almost three times longer than federal guidelines.

Five years...and that's only because the judge was willing to push the envelope on what federal guidelines recommended.

Judging by the statement that Hart's sentence is almost 3 times as long as the recommendation, we'll assume that the suggested prison term is between 21-24 months...or a maximum of two years in prison for physically and sexually assaulting underage girls to make a profit.

This site shows a table highlighting the "scoring" system that the federal government uses to determine sentencing guidelines. Based on the wording in the P.I. article, we can assume that Hart (or Hush, as he was known on the streets) was ranked at an offense level of 16, which brings a 21-27 month sentence.   

Having 50 grams of crack cocaine in your possession? That's a level 38, which comes with about 21 years in prison. What Hart did carries the same sentence as someone caught with 10 kilograms of weed (around $3500 worth).

The Assistant U.S. District Attorney shares my sentiments, and made a sound byte-worthy point in front of reporters:

[AUSDA Jill] Otake warned the court that "street-level gang members are leaving the drug trade and engaging in the pimping of women, because the risk of apprehension is less."  

It's time to revise these sentencing guidelines; until that's done, the problem will only get worse. When compared to drugs, pimping is more profitable, less risky, and carries a smaller penalty.  Doesn't take a genius to see where this could be going.

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It can't help but make an American proud to hear that our country's borders are being guarded by fine, upstanding young men like Desmond Bastian:

Bastian, 31, a U.S. citizen who lived in Surrey, B.C., and worked as a U.S. customs and immigration inspector, allowed [a British Columbia prostitute] to drive through the Blaine crossing while carrying large loads of marijuana and other drugs.

According to the woman's testimony at Bastian's trial, she would lift her skirt and bare her breast while being waved through the border station, and then would often meet Bastian afterward for sex.

Now, Bastian has been sentenced to 32 months in prison, where we're guessing his sexual experiences are going to be a might bit different than what this international playboy got used to at his old job.