La Plata, MD – Chrishanna Kenya Dinkins, 20 of District Heights, faced Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Thursday, Nov. 6 for final sentencing on human trafficking and profiting from prostitution charges involving teenage women from a 2013 incident.
Dinkins was given 10 years in jail with all but one year suspended. She will begin serving her time at the Charles County Detention Center in January.
Dinkins’ co-defendant in the case is serving seven years in the Department of Corrections for his role in the events of Feb. 13, 2013, when he and Dinkins were arrested at a Waldorf hotel after advertising young girls for sex on social networks through the Internet.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany L. Campbell told Bragunier that while the co-defendant now serving time was a “main player,” in the prostitution ring, “Ms. Dinkins also had a role in this as well. She was actively involved in this. Her role was not minor.”
Campbell said the state was asking for 18 months of incarceration.
“The state has given her every break we can,” Campbell stated.
Dinkins’ attorney, Anthony Mayo, said the defendant had entered an Alford Plea and was accepting full responsibility for her role in the event.
Mayo explained that “a very difficult childhood” provided “some rationalization as to why we’re here today.
“Her father spent 15 years in prison,” Mayo said. “Her mother was addicted to crack cocaine. Her father was physically and emotionally abusive to her mother. These are things she was exposed to as a young child. Her father is still in prison.
“Her mother has now been clean for four years,” he added. “As a result of experiencing several events, Ms. Dinkins turned to prostitution at the age of 15. She was homeless. She didn’t have anywhere else to turn.”
Mayo also described Dinkins’ co-conspirator as a very controlling, emotionally and physically abusive influence on the defendant.
“He was seven to eight years older than her,” Mayo told the court. “The gap is significant.”
Mayo further detailed that a 2013 drug arrest was applied to Dinkins although, he said, the defendant was coerced into telling the officers the cocaine was hers and not the co-defendant’s.
“He appears to me to be the mastermind [behind the prostitution ring],” he added. “She didn’t have the moral confidence to refute him. He was manipulative and used her. Once she found out she had a warrant issued for her, she turned herself in.”
Bragunier noted that Dinkins had written a letter to the court accepting full responsibility for her actions, and told the defendant, “That means a lot. I was prepared to go to the Department of Corrections with much more time.”
The judge then sentenced Dinkins to 10 years with all but one year suspended. She also added 90 days concurrent to the imposed sentence for a violation of probation charge.
She also imposed five years of supervised probation and told Dinkins she must register as a convicted sex offender upon her release. Bragunier ordered her to report to jail Jan. 9.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com