Shante Broady, 38, targeted vulnerable women and children on various social media platforms and brought them to Seattle from other states and countries.
A Seattle pimp has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking adult and minor victims on the city's infamous Aurora Avenue. Shante Broady, 38, used violence and intimidation to coerce his victims into prostitution. He targeted vulnerable women and children on various social media platforms and brought them to Seattle from other states and countries, investigators said.
Broady was sentenced on Tuesday by US District Court Judge Coughenour for the Western District of Washington. Coughenour justified the 20-year prison term given "the violence of events" in this case. Assistant US Attorney Kate Crishman asked for 15 years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term, arguing that Broady "is a violent man and a sexual predator who targets vulnerable young girls."
https://twitter.com/KatieDaviscourt/status/2066310171660554594?s=20
The convicted sexual predator first came under the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) radar in March 2023, when the agency received a report that Broady had been sex trafficking a minor victim in Portland, Oregon. A former girlfriend reported to authorities that she was assaulted by Broady in November 2024, according to trial testimony and court records.
Broady then set his sights on Seattle's Aurora Avenue, an area known for open-air sex trafficking, which intensified following the city's decision to decriminalize sex work in 2020. In April 2025, the FBI was contacted by two adult women claiming that they were either being sex trafficked by force and through threats of violence or that Broady had been targeting them to be his new victims.
One woman said Broady was unsuccessful in his attempt to force her into prostitution, while another reported that in March 2025, Broady lured her to travel from Canada with the promise of providing a luxurious lifestyle and then pressured her into prostitution through the use of threats and violence, such as physical assaults and brandishing a firearm at the victim. Phone records submitted at trial detailed the threats. These two victims obtained restraining orders and the Canadian woman returned home after escaping.
Broady also trafficked a minor victim who had run away from an out-of-state boarding school. The victim was rescued by law enforcement after officers encountered her on North Aurora Avenue. Broady's phone records revealed that he was aware the victim was underage and that he directed her on how to interact with potential sex buyers. The victim was returned home to her family.
"Shante Broady is one of six defendants involved in sex trafficking this office has prosecuted in the last six months. Like many sex traffickers in this district, Mr. Broady took a minor to North Aurora Avenue to sell her to sex buyers. This area - which traffickers refer to as 'the track' or 'the blade' - is a dangerous hub for commercial sexual exploitation of children and adults and associated violent and dangerous criminal activity," said First Assistant US Attorney Neil Floyd in a press release.
FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge Mike Herrington said that Broady "scoured the internet and various social media platforms searching for vulnerable children and women to entice into his commercial sex trade."
"He succeeded in coercing a minor victim and an adult victim through false promises of a relationship, protection, and money, to travel across state and country lines to commit commercial sex acts at his instruction. Instead of a lavish lifestyle, the victims were met with anger, threats, and violence," Herrington added.
https://twitter.com/KatieDaviscourt/status/2063637108003062202?s=20
The 20-year prison term comes as federal and local authorities crack down on ongoing violent pimp wars along Aurora Avenue. More than a dozen women and children sex trafficking victims were rescued last month. Several alleged pimps were also taken into custody.
"This office is working tirelessly with our state and federal partners to assist potential victims, identify traffickers, and reduce crime in that known sex trafficking area," said Floyd. "This twenty-year sentence, alongside other federal and state prosecutions, are helping to remove some of the most violent traffickers off the streets for a lengthy period."
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