Members of a local gang, the Bloods affiliated West Side Street Mobb, have been charged with various offences including promoting prostitution.

According to court documents, the gang members forced at least 13 young women and girls into prostitution through violence and coercion. All of the women’s earnings were collected by gang members.

DeShawn “Cash Money” Clark, 18, faces the most serious charges, including human trafficking in the second degree, promoting prostitution in the first degree and two counts of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

His associate Thomas Lamarreo Foster has been charged with two counts of promoting prostitution in the first degree and one count of assault in the second degree.

The two were each accused of forcing multiple women, ages 17 to 19, into prostitution after repeatedly assaulting and threatening them both.

The gang members advertised sexual encounters with many of the women on Craigslist, according to court documents.

Foster was accused of forcing the mother of his two children into prostitution. According to court documents he repeatedly assaulted her, including one incident of strangulation

One victim, now 19, said Clark registered her in various hotels to work as a prostitute and took her with other girls to Portland on one occasion.

In a court document Detective Todd Novisedlak stated, “She feared that she would lose her life if she cooperated with police.”

Initially, in November of 2008, Clark plead guilty to lesser, related charges. While out on bail that month, he violated a court order prohibiting him from contacting the victim when he attacked her at a Travelodge in Tukwila.

But through additional investigation Seattle Vice Unit Detective Todd Novisedlak compiled further evidence against Clark, Foster and four other known members of the West Side Street Mobb allegedly involved in the prostitution ring.

DeShawn Clark is now accused of coercing two 17-year-old minors into prostitution. He has also been charged with possession of marijuana and intent to manufacture or deliver.

DeShawn’s brother, Shawn Sylvester Clark and alleged associates Gerald Nathaniel Jackson and Desmond Trevian Manago were also charged with promoting prostitution in the second degree. Another suspected associate of the West Side Street Mobb, Mycah Maurice Johnson, has been charged with promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

These gang members allegedly lived in an apartment in Burien with several young women who earned money for them through prostitution.

Each offender faces two to three years in prison, except Clark who is facing a much longer sentance for his felony charges.

According to an investigation into the West Side Street Gang by King County Sheriff’s Office Detective Joe Gagliardi, the gang formed around the Delridge neighborhood in 2006 and is expected to contain 20 to 30 members.

In court documents, Gagliardi described the gang’s primary criminal activities as robbery, narcotics sales, organized prostitution, illegal weapons possession and aggravated assaults.

The defendants will be tried together in May.