Brian Folks Credit: Burlington Police Department

A man convicted last year of using opioids to coerce women into prostitution was sentenced on Monday to more than two decades in federal prison.

A jury previously found Brian Folks, 45, guilty of 13 felonies related to sex and drug rings that federal prosecutors said he operated in the Burlington area between 2012 and 2016.

Several women had testified that Folks exploited their opioid addictions to recruit them as prostitutes and drug runners. When they tried to quit, he humiliated them, withheld drugs, or used violent methods of control.

His three-week trial in May of last year was the first federal human-trafficking prosecution in Vermont to go before a jury.

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Trafficked: How the Opioid Epidemic Drives Sexual Exploitation in Vermont

“I thought sex trafficking was something that happened to people in other countries or to women who were brought to this country to work in massage parlors,” writes Kate O’Neill. “I had no idea it was something that could happen to my sister.” O’Neill explores the intersection of opioid addiction and sexual exploitation in Vermont as part of her yearlong series “Hooked: Stories and Solutions from Vermont’s Opioid Crisis.” Later this month, a man who allegedly sold drugs and prostituted women is expected to be the first sex trafficking defendant to face a Green Mountain jury.

He faced at least 15 years and up to life in prison. U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced Folks to a prison term of 22 years and six months, followed by 10 years of supervision, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

“This significant term of imprisonment reflects the inhumanity with which Folks treated his victims and the depravity of his conduct,” U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan said in a statement.

Folks will also be required to pay restitution to his victims, at an amount still to be determined.

Kate O’Neill wrote about the allegations against Folks last year as part of Hooked, her award-winning Seven Days series on Vermont’s opioid epidemic.

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Trafficked: How the Opioid Epidemic Drives Sexual Exploitation in Vermont

“I thought sex trafficking was something that happened to people in other countries or to women who were brought to this country to work in massage parlors,” writes Kate O’Neill. “I had no idea it was something that could happen to my sister.” O’Neill explores the intersection of opioid addiction and sexual exploitation in Vermont as part of her yearlong series “Hooked: Stories and Solutions from Vermont’s Opioid Crisis.” Later this month, a man who allegedly sold drugs and prostituted women is expected to be the first sex trafficking defendant to face a Green Mountain jury.

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Derek Brouwer was a news reporter at Seven Days 2019-2025 who wrote about class, poverty, housing, homelessness, criminal justice and business. At Seven Days his reporting won more than a dozen awards from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and...