Sentencing has been handed down to a former Livingston County woman who was convicted of conducting a criminal enterprise related to sex trafficking minors.

41-year-old Amber Speed, a former Unadilla Township resident, was sentenced today to five to 20 years in prison. Speed was sentenced before Judge Joyce Draganchuk in Ingham County Circuit Court.

A jury convicted Speed in January on a felony count of conducting a criminal enterprise for running a sex trafficking ring in the Lansing area. The Attorney General's office says girls involved in the operation were minors when they were brought into the ring.

An investigation was launched after a Michigan State Police Trooper, who had attended human trafficking training, came across online ads for an escort operation. Attorney General Bill Schuette today thanked the trooper for his diligence in the case, adding that the case is a “great example of how human trafficking education and awareness makes a difference.”

Speed, who resided in Munith, told police in a recorded interview that she did run an escort service in the Lansing area, but denied that the women who worked for her sold sex. Multiple instances of Speed allegedly trafficking minors were said to have occurred from 2009 through approximately 2014.

Schuette says her sentence brings this case to a close and takes a dangerous individual off the streets. (DK)