A Boulder sex offender indicted by a grand jury and accused of using drugs and violence to force multiple women into prostitution and paying for sex with a 12-year-old girl will be sentenced to prison after entering into a plea agreement.
Randolph “Randy” Clark, 39, pleaded guilty Friday in Boulder District Court to two counts of first-degree assault, human trafficking, and attempted sex assault on a child.
As part of the plea agreement, attorneys agreed that Clark will serve 45 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
While the sentence is stipulated, Clark will still have a sentencing hearing on May 31.
The mother of one victim did object to the plea agreement in court Friday, telling Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler she felt the length of the sentence was too short and the charge of attempted sexual assault was not accurate, as it was a completed sex assault.
The original indictment included 30 charges, and Clark could have been facing up to 155 years to life in prison if found guilty on all counts at a trial. Clark had been set for trial in June before he accepted the plea agreement.
“I am very, very strongly against this plea deal,” the victim’s mother said. “I understand both sides and the reasons behind it, I just don’t feel like it does my daughter justice, it minimizes what happens to her… I feel like this takes away from the justice for my 14-year-old daughter.”
Boulder Chief Trial Deputy Christine Rinke said the charge of attempted sex assault rather than sex assault had to be used in the agreement in order to facilitate the plea agreement and the stipulated 45-year sentence.
A charge of sex assault by law would have required Clark serve an indeterminate sentence.
Butler acknowledged the input of the victim’s mother, but also told her he felt the plea agreement was fair and that trials did not always go the way victims and their families wanted them to.
“When I saw what the plea agreement is compared to what I know of the case, it does seem appropriate under all of the circumstances,” Butler said. “I understand you may not agree with it., but it’s well within what I would call the range of reasonable.”
Butler accepted Clark’s guilty pleas following the statements. Clark remains in custody at the Boulder County Jail.
According to prosecutors, Scott, through a combination of physical violence and threats along with exploiting their drug addictions, coerced women into commercial sex acts.
According to the indictment, he also had sex with a 12-year-old girl and videotaped the act and sent the video to other women. He also paid the girl for oral sex on other occasions.
Clark is a registered sex offender following a conviction for unlawful sexual contact, and also has a lengthy criminal history including past convictions related to prostitution, according to an affidavit.
