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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Runaways Snared For Prostitution Ring On Parole For Sex Crimes, Man Arrested And Convicted Again

Associated Press

A man who preyed on runaways to put together a small prostitution ring out of Eugene has been convicted of promoting prostitution and kidnapping.

Michael Don Kelly of Eugene already was on parole for compelling prostitution, sex abuse and rape.

On Thursday, he was convicted of multiple counts of promoting prostitution and one count of kidnapping, which on top of his prior record could send the 29-year-old to prison for the rest of his life, Lane County deputy district attorney Caren Tracy said.

Investigators say Kelly preyed on young girls with low self-esteem. He would convince them that he loved them and that they should help him by earning money for him, Eugene police agent Greg Harvey said.

Harvey said Kelly sent the girls to Nevada where they would become prostitutes.

One such girl, 16-year-old Cynthia K. Stone, was killed in a car wreck in Nevada last February. Paperwork found in her vehicle, including phone records, journals and letters from Kelly, helped convict him.

Stone’s mother, Cynthia Davis of Odessa, Texas, said that Kelly picked her daughter up at a Eugene pay phone in November 1996 a few days after the girl ran away from her father’s home in Kelso, Wash.

“These girls are so naive. I don’t understand how he had so much power,” Davis said. “He was violent with her. She really believed he loved her.”

Kelly’s prostitution ring was relatively minor among similar rings run out of Eugene, investigators said.

“He would probably make a few hundred dollars a day. You have other pimps around here making thousands of dollars a day,” Harvey said.

Kelly was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1991 for compelling prostitution, sex abuse and rape. An appeals court reduced his sentence and he was released in April 1995, state prison records showed.