Human trafficking

Fresno man sentenced to prison for pimping, human trafficking in Ventura County

A 33-year-old Fresno man was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to pimping and human trafficking of a minor, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Phillip Dwayne Lowe was arrested in November after he was found at a Motel 6 on Johnson Drive in Ventura with a 15-year-old girl and two women, prosecutors said. Detectives with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office's intelligence unit got a tip about the girl, a runaway from Arizona, being trafficked for sex in Ventura County, prosecutors said.

Detectives found the girl's picture in an advertisement for sex on commonly used adult websites and contacted the number listed on the ad, prosecutors said. They spoke to a woman featured on the ad and used the information from the call to respond to the motel, prosecutors said.