DETROIT – A conspirator in a drug and sex trafficking ring that operated out of a Detroit hotel will spend more than 15 years behind bars.
Terry Pruitt was the final person sentenced in the eight-year case that resulted in nearly 120 collective years behind bars for eight people.
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Pruitt pleaded guilty in March 2021 to charges stemming from the operation of a large-scale drug and prostitution business operating out of the Victory Inn, a motel formerly located next to the main drag for prostitution on Michigan Avenue.
A federal raid in 2017 uncovered a sex trafficking ring at the motel.
February 2017: Victory Inn raid leads to sex trafficking, drug distribution, conspiracy charges
Authorities said Darrick Bell, the leader of the group, sold drugs to vulnerable women to control them and used them to keep customers coming to the now-demolished Victory Inn on Michigan Avenue, where he operated. Court documents claim he turned the hotel into a drug distribution business by taking control of the rooms and moving drug dealers who worked with him onto the premises.
Bell was sentenced in July 2024 to 28 years in prison.
Pruitt helped provide drugs for the human trafficking victims at the motel. Authorities said he trafficked both drugs and humans for Bell.
Prosecutors said Pruitt’s prior convictions played a role in his 15-year sentence.
The Victory Inn was demolished in 2017, roughly a year after police raided the motel.
