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A man with a long criminal history in Utah was sentenced to prison Thursday after pleading guilty to starting a prostitution operation two months after his release from prison.
Todd Jeremy Rettenberger, 38, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Thursday to serve up to 15 years in prison on two human trafficking-related charges, according to the Utah Attorney General's Office.
Davis County prosecutors charged him in April with seven counts related to a two-woman prostitution ring he managed through the website backpage.com.
"The victims of this trafficker were teenage girls forced into prostitution against their will and compelled to stay in 'the life' by threats against their well-being and against their families," Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a written statement Saturday.
According to court documents in the case, Rettenberger "substantially controlled" a prostitution operation in Salt Lake City, Bountiful and Oregon in which he kept one of the women working largely to fuel her drug addiction.
One of the victims mentioned in the charges said she was a heroin addict who began to feel that Rettenberger "owned" her. She told investigators she was afraid not to do what Rettenberger said, the charges state.
A second victim told investigators Rettenberger was violent during "sex acts" between the two.
Rettenberger gained notoriety for his involvement in a 1996 murder of Matthew John Whicker, a 30-year-old clerk at a Woods Cross Motel 6.
In that case, Rettenberger, then 18, acted as a lookout and getaway driver in what was described as a robbery attempt gone awry.
Rettenberger initially told police he was Whicker's killer, but the Utah Supreme Court later ruled the confession was coerced. He later testified at trial against two others in the murder case.
Rettenberger was sentenced to prison in July 2012 for up to five years in July 2012 for exploiting prostitutes and drugs charges and paroled in November 2015.
In February 2016, detectives with the Bountiful Police Department were investigating Rettenberger's activities. They were joined by officials from the Utah SECURE Strikeforce, an investigative unit within Reyes's office.
"I am thrilled [the victims] will not have to endure a trial and be forced to relive the atrocities perpetrated upon them," Reyes said in the statement.
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson