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Man sentenced to 70 years for trafficking teen girls, drug possession

"Human trafficking is just below the surface, even in cities like Austin," Assistant District Attorney Jim Kingman said after the trial.

Editor's Note: The above video is from February 2019.

On Wednesday, a Travis County jury sentenced Raymond Paul Swan to 70 years in prison after hearing evidence of his repeated sexual assault of two teen girls, numerous prior incarcerations and six prior felony convictions.

The same jury found Swan guilty of possession of methamphetamine the day before.

On Jan. 6, 2017, Austin police officers responded to a crash in Austin. Witnesses indicated that two girls left the scene. Officer Brian O'Quinn matched the girls to the description given in an earlier Amber Alert. 

The girls, 14 and 16, had been missing from Montgomery County since December 2016.

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The girls were picked up in Conroe, taken to a hotel in Austin and told they would begin working as prostitutes. The girls fled and were taken to the same hotel by Swan, then 40. 

Over the course of a week, Swan gave drugs to the girls and sexually assaulted them multiple times.

Digital forensic analysis of Swan's phone showed that, on the second day, he learned that the girls were missing from Montgomery County and that they were 14 and 16 years old.

Special Agents Otto Cabrera and Amy King of the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested Swan at the hotel and recovered meth and numerous items indicating a drug selling operation.

RELATED VIDEO: RAW: Interview with sex trafficking survivor Allison Franklin

Assistant District Attorneys Jim Kingman and Joe Frederick prosecuted Swan's case.

After the trial, Kingsman said, "Human trafficking is just below the surface, even in cities like Austin. Law enforcement and the jury did excellent work to make sure that this predator is removed from the community for a long time."

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