Inset: Cedric Dorsey II (Bellevue Police Department). Background: Dorsey poses with a gun (King County Prosecuting Attorney”s Office).
A Washington state man who once boasted on social media about his illicit gains will now spend the next several decades behind bars.
Cedric Dorsey II, 32, was recently convicted on numerous charges including human trafficking in the second degree, promoting prostitution in the first degree, and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was sentenced this week to 35 years in state prison.
Prior to his arrest, the defendant posted at least one image of himself posing with a long gun. In one post, Dorsey claimed: “I’m so pimpish.”
Police later used his social media presence against him.
“I am happy to take what they post and include it in the scope of our investigation,” Bellevue Police Department Major Ellen Inman told Seattle-based ABC affiliate KOMO. “That’s the way I look at social media and the way that people advertise their criminal activity — if you advertise it and make it available for us to use in our investigation, then that’s what we’ll do.”
The case began with a domestic violence call at apartment in the Factoria neighborhood of Bellevue — a large city and part of the Seattle metro area — on April 8, 2024. The victim, who has not been named by law enforcement, fled the apartment in question with the help of construction workers. Responding officers identified various indicators of human trafficking — which the victim confirmed.
An investigation followed. Several weeks later, law enforcement officials had their sights set on Dorsey and a search warrant in hand.
Due to Dorsey’s several prior entanglements with the law — including prior convictions — law enforcement used a SWAT team to try and dislodge him from his apartment on May 2, 2024. At first, however, the defendant declined to come outside. Later, after getting his mother involved in the process, police convinced Dorsey to turn himself in.
The victim would go on to tell investigators she had been trafficked for sex in various states and cities, including Las Vegas.
“[The victim] recalled at this time, Dorsey purchased a hotel room for her and got her ‘ads’ posted, and then she began seeing sex buyers,” a police report obtained by KOMO reads. “[The victim] stated that Dorsey was always the one to book hotel rooms for her, explaining that he always wanted to control everything … for a large percentage of prostitution dates, Dorsey required [the victim] to obtain a deposit from a sex buyer to verify they were not law enforcement.”
The woman at the center of the case said Dorsey repeatedly beat her and stomped on her face — which resulted in her hospitalization — in order to keep her in line and under his thumb.
All the while, the defendant posted about his earnings — under the social media profile “CCC Cash Chasen Ced.”
When the search warrant was executed at Dorsey’s residence, law enforcement reportedly recovered $12,000 in cash and three firearms.
“From the Bellevue PD Officers quickly spotting the red flags associated with sex trafficking to the work of the Department’s Human Trafficking Unit, this collaborative operation was truly a textbook example on how to hold an individual accountable for conducting a horrible sex crime on another person,” Bellevue Assistant Chief of Police Andrew Popochock said at the time of the arrest. “Sex trafficking is a crime.”
