Cary man gets seven years in prison for human trafficking

A Cary man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison on human trafficking charges, authorities said.

Tony O'Brien Williams, 29, pleaded guilty in November to interstate transportation for prostitution and use of the Internet to promote prostitution.

Williams was arrested three years ago after Cary police determined he was holding two women at a local motel in "sexual servitude." He was convicted and placed on probation.

Investigators determined that Williams continued to run a prostitution operation out of motels in North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia until January 2015, recruiting women whose services were advertised online. He used threats, violence and drugs to maintain control over the women and took their cellphones and identification so they couldn't contact family or friends, authorities said.