El Paso County convicted pimp will not serve jail time

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- An El Paso County businesswoman convicted of pimping out multiple women over several years will not spend time in jail or prison. 

In December 2022, 32-year-old Shirley King was convicted of Pimping, Keeping A Place of Prostitution, Prostitution, and Pandering-Arranging Prostitution.

On Wednesday, a judge sentenced the former owner of Sutra Healing Center to four years of supervised probation. The sentence bans King from practicing hands-on massage therapy or "tantra" treatments for healing purposes during those years. 

An informant told investigators that King gave massages out of her business located at the 500 block of Marquette Dr. in El Paso County with “happy endings” or sexual acts, but classified the interactions as “tantra.”

In Sep. 2021, King was arrested at a sex party she helped organize along with an undercover detective with the Colorado Springs Metro Vice Unit. 

“I think a lot of people know that El Paso County is crooked,” King told 13 Investigates before her sentencing on Wednesday. “We have crooked cops and crooked politicians. We all know it.”

During the trial, King’s defense attorneys argued that her massage business was for healing purposes, and the investigation into King was “government overreach.”

On the other side, the state argued “tantra” was all a facade for King’s escort business. 

Throughout the trial, prosecutors provided witnesses that paid money for sex, text messages, and Facebook messages discussing the illegal business and King discussing taking a cut of money from her female employees. 

Prosecutors said King would target women struggling with substance abuse and pimp them out. However, two of King’s former ‘employees’ spoke during sentencing in support of the business owner, arguing that they were not pimping victims. 

Before her sentencing, King told the court she intends to work as a life coach, focused on healing people.