Robert Burton: Miami man sentenced to 15 years for human trafficking

Associated Press

MIAMI -- A Miami Beach man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for beating and strangling a woman he forced into prostitution.

The sentencing of 34-year-old Robert Burton on Tuesday marked the first conviction for the Miami-Dade Human Trafficking Unit.

The Miami Herald reports Burton forced at least six women into prostitution and fathered children with three of them. He faced similar charges in Nevada where he wasn't convicted.

Burton was accused of beating and choking a 31-year-old woman and abducting their 7-year-old son in 2011. Prosecutors say when police pulled Burton over and inquired about the two women in the car, the child said, "those are my daddy's hoes."

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle says human trafficking is similar to domestic violence. She called it "affection - with torture."