Thirty-eight-year-old Roderick Roberts is now charged in Maricopa County with aggravated assault, sex trafficking and misconduct involving weapons, after being arrested by Glendale police in April while at his home near 24th Street and Indian School Road in Phoenix.
Court records obtained by ABC15 show a multi-agency undercover operation designed to target local sex traffickers identified multiple women being advertised by Roberts, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in King County, Washington and was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2009.
Arizona court records show Roberts was released on probation in March of 2023.
Glendale police were able to contact two of the women involved in Roberts’ alleged sex trafficking operation. Both women reportedly became emotional and asked police for help. The women told police Roberts had abused and threatened them.
“He has held the gun at her head and threatened her,” court paperwork reads. It goes on to state, “The defendant has already been convicted of killing someone and has threatened to kill these victims and they are fearful of it and believe he will do it.”
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The women told investigators they were “terrified” to stop working for Roberts.
When police searched Roberts’ home they found an assault-style rifle. Roberts declined to speak with detectives without an attorney.
Roberts’ release from a state of Washington prison came 14 years after his 18-year sentence.
ABC15 obtained Department of Corrections records from Washington showing Roberts was documented for 32 infractions while in prison and punished with more than 50 days of cell confinement. Roberts' disciplinary hearings came for a failed drug test, fight with another inmate and several minor offenses.
