Two years ago, Anthony Pledger, then 26, befriended teenage girls on the Internet, looking for young girls he could sell as prostitutes.
“I know [people] that will pay us,” he told one of teens he hoped to exploit, promising her a glamorous life.
On Monday, Pledger pleaded with US District Judge William G. Young for mercy following his conviction in February on two counts of sex trafficking of a minor.
“I was wrong,” he told the judge, punching his left hand into the air. His right hand held the crumpled piece of paper on which he had written his apology. “I don’t want to be a pimp. I don’t want to be labeled as a gang member.”
Young, a veteran judge who has heard similar sex trafficking cases in recent years, told Pledger that he was no monster, but that his actions were “so horrific they prey upon your conscience.”
“You have hurt people almost beyond calculation,” Young said before sentencing Pledger to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, including the condition that he stay away from fellow gang members.
Pledger, who is from Dorchester, was arrested in October 2013 in Rhode Island, one of the first people charged in federal court in Boston in a recent series of sex trafficking prosecutions.
US prosecutors have pursued more sex trafficking cases in federal courts with the goal of tougher punishments for perpetrators, who often see the crime as being as lucrative as gun trafficking or drug dealing, but with less risk.
Sex trafficking convictions often carry punishments of a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Pledger’s codefendant, Miriam Kizzie, was sentenced in May to more than 12 years in prison.
Another man, David Minasian, was sentenced in a separate but similar case in October to 15 years in prison.
Pledger told Young he was remorseful, telling the judge, “I get it.” Pledger’s lawyer, Ian Gold, said his client is an aspiring writer who has written a book while in prison.
Pledger attributed his actions to upbringing, in which his parents were often in prison. He had a good friend who was shot and killed, and died “in my arms.” Months before soliciting the women on the Internet, he was shot himself and was near death, according to court records.
But Assistant US Attorney Timothy Moran argued that Pledger showed no mercy to his victims — a 15- and 16-year-old, both of whom were in high school — who are scarred by the experience. Pledger also brought the 15-year-old to his home, plied her with alcohol and marijuana, and had sex with her.
One of the girl’s mothers contacted authorities, who used the GPS signal from Pledger’s phone to track him to his home, where the girls were found in his basement.
“The point is, there are real victims here. They’ve been hurt,” Moran said, “and while we can hope they’ll recover, they’ll never escape that hurt.”
Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.