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Man who sold teens for sex in Florida, threatened to feed them to gators, gets life in prison

PARK HILLS, Mo. — A Missouri man who was part of a husband-wife duo that forced at least five girls into the sex trade in five states will now spend the rest of his life in federal prison.

Marcus DeWayne Thompson, 29, and his wife Robin Thompson, took the girls state to state from Florida to Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Missouri and sold them for sex, court documents said.

At least one of the girls told investigators that the pair kidnapped her as she was walking in her home town of Madison, Illinois.

She told investigators that one of the girls died in her arms, and that they were beaten and threatened with being fed to alligators if they tried to escape, officials said.

Robin Thompson was convicted of organizing online advertisements for the sex trafficking enterprise, and posted sexually explicit images of the victims online, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Robin Thompson also arranged prices, services and meeting locations with customers paying to have sex with the underage girls, the DOJ said in a news release.

The trafficking ring operated during a six-week period between June and July 2015, investigators said.

Marcus Thompson had sex with one of the minor girls on at least five occasions, court documents said.

Robin Thompson was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her part in the operation.

Marcus Thompson pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud or coercion, and sex trafficking of a minor by force.

He was could have gotten as little as 15 years in prison, but during the sentencing hearing, Judge Michael J. Reagan said nothing but life behind bars could match the severity of Marcus Thompson's offenses.

Reagan characterized the man as a "predator" who "sold the minor victim as a commodity."