SHEBOYGAN – A 26-year-old Sheboygan man was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in a 2013 sex trafficking operation involving underage girls.

Teng Thao pleaded no contest to felony charges of trafficking of a child and human trafficking and was sentenced to six years prison and eight years extended supervision by Judge Rebecca Persick.

“These crimes are absolutely repulsive,” Persick said during the sentencing hearing. “The victims are the most vulnerable in our community, runaways and children.”

The case against Thao began with a car crash in Clark County in 2013. In the car were six girls along with a man named Pao Chang, who was later accused of being the girls’ pimp.

Chang was sentenced to 18 years behind bars and 15 years extended supervision in 2015 for his role as the primary actor in the operation.

All but one of the girls drew into prostitution were under the age of 18 and the one 20-year-old victim Chang exploited was described by District Attorney Joel Urmanski as mentally slow.

Thao was painted by prosecutors as a hired muscle and chauffeur for Chang and the girls in Sheboygan but was paid not in money, but in methamphetamine.

Urmanski said Thao was not the primary actor in the operation, but a “piece of the puzzle” who knew what was taking place and “whose actions facilitated the acts.”

Thao’s attorney, William Mayer, said Thao had a “fairly limited role” in the prostitution ring and was manipulated by Chang due to his addiction to meth. He recommended a sentence of probation with conditions of jail time for the charges.

“The worst thing Teng did was nothing,” Mayer said.

Judge Persick rejected probation as a suitable punishment and said a lesser sentence than prison would send the wrong message to victims.

“The thought of probation to me is repulsive,” she said. “This is an abhorrent crime.”

During sentencing, Thao took responsibility for his actions and offered his apology to the victims and the court.

“I’m sorry for causing such dramatic situations that affected everybody’s life, including my own and my family. I have been incarcerated for some time and have been doing a lot of thinking,” he said. “At this point, I would like to take responsibility for my actions.”