MARTINEZ — A year-old man charged with forcing adults into prostitution and raping two minors accepted a year prison sentence in a plea deal Wednesday, records show. Cori Murphy , of Antioch, will be officially sentenced to 30 years and eight months in October, for no contest pleas to human trafficking, rape, and oral copulation.
Had he gone to trial and been convicted, he faced the possibility of life in prison. The resolution closes a case that received widespread media attention when it was filed a year ago. It all started when a teen girl reported to police that Murphy had invited her to a room in the Economy Inn in Antioch, slipped a drug into an alcoholic drink he offered her, then sexually assaulted her while she was under sedation.
Police spent several months investigating the case and discovered a second sexual assault victim. Authorities say Murphy was pimping both of his co-defendants, who were both charged for participating in the sexual assault. Pennell was sentenced to eight years in prison, and Denzer received a three-year sentence, according to court records.
Prosecutor Jay Melaas, who handled the case, credited all five victims — three adults and two minors — with helping bring a resolution to the case. Murphy was using drugs and physical and mental abuse, including rape, to recruit, groom, and traffic young women. Under state law, the crime of pimping is defined as facilitating adult sex workers, with their consent.
Human trafficking refers the act of forcing an adult into the sex trade, or prostituting a minor, regardless of whether the minor agrees to it.
