A Kansas man who admitted to pimping a 17-year-old girl after being arrested in an undercover sting in Alma was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a U.S. judge Wednesday morning.
Darnell James Winston, 23 of Leavenworth, Kan., was arrested and charged with sex trafficking by a grand jury last September after being arrested in August.
According to online court records, police in Alma and Fort Smith and the FBI set up the sting after receiving a tip about the girl working as a prostitute in the Fayetteville area and tracking her and Winston through Facebook.
Winston communicated online with an undercover officer posing as 16-year-old girl, telling the officer he was already working with an underage girl in an attempt to get the officer's alias to begin working as a prostitute, court records show.
The officer arranged to meet Winston at a hotel in Alma, where he was arrested and the girl was recovered, according to court records.
Winston was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge P.K. Holmes in Fort Smith.
Winston pleaded guilty in November and was handed over to U.S. marshals this morning to be transferred to a federal prison, where he will not be eligible for parole, according to court documents.