A 50-year-old man was sentenced Thursday for his role in an alleged family-run St. Paul sex trafficking ring.

Calvin R. Washington was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of an individual. He will serve a concurrent sentence of more than three years in prison for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. He will be credited for almost two years he spent locked up.

Calvin Washington was charged along with Otis D. Washington and his brother Antonio D. Washington-Davis, their uncle Robert J. Washington and Washington-Davis' ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth A. Alexander, in a sex trafficking ring in which several women and young girls were allegedly victimized. Calvin Washington pleaded guilty in July and testified that he drove one woman to meet men who paid for sex.

On Thursday, Washington's public defender, Ellen Seesel, argued that he had begun to turn his life around since he had been granted conditional release, attending church three times a week, helping his ill siblings and seeing a therapist.

Washington himself also addressed the judge to apologize for his actions and admitted that he should never have gotten involved in the sex trafficking ring.

"I want to do something different [with my life]," said Washington, who added that he had already spent half of his life behind bars.

While saying that she didn't doubt that Washington was making strides, Ramsey County District Judge Rosanne Nathanson said she couldn't ignore the gravity of the case.

"The community needs to know that these matters are addressed in a serious way," Nathanson said.

Last week, Nathanson sentenced Robert J. Washington, 56, to 12½ years of probation. She sentenced him to three years in prison but stayed that for probation.

NICOLE NORFLEET