- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Lakeport man sentenced to state prison for human trafficking; victims decry sentence as too lenient
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault, human trafficking and related crimes.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday a Lakeport man was sentenced to prison for human trafficking as the result of a plea agreement he reached in October with the District Attorney’s Office, a deal that two of his victims objected to as far too lenient and asked the judge to reject.
Sam Lindsey Massette, 37, was sentenced to the upper term of 20 years for two counts of human trafficking for the purposes of prostitution and two counts of pimping women in prostitution, and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
Judge Michael Lunas, who handed down the sentence, explained in court that, with credits and time served, Massette is expected to serve about nine years in prison.
In victim impact statements read in court, two of Massette’s victims objected to the plea agreement.
“I spit on this plea deal. My justice has been stolen,” wrote a young woman who also stated that the District Attorney’s Office had made her promises in the case that were broken.
Judge Lunas concluded he had little latitude in the matter and that it ultimately was up to the district attorney to decide how to prosecute a case.
Massette and his wife, 28-year-old Krystina Marie Pickersgill, were arrested on June 5 on allegations of selling teenage girls into prostitution in the Bay Area, as Lake County News has reported.
Investigation into the allegations began two months before the arrests after a young woman who had been one of the couple’s victims approached District Attorney Don Anderson following a production in Lakeport of the play “Jane Doe in Wonderland,” a play written for young adults that explains how victims are lured into human trafficking.
Following the couple’s arrests, more victims came forward and were added to the case, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Altogether, Massette and Pickersgill were charged with 10 counts the included human trafficking, pimping and pandering for their crimes against five young women, identified as Jane Does one through five in court records.
However, it was explained in court on Tuesday that the plea agreement involved four charges for only four of the victims.
The charging documents said Massette and Pickersgill posted Internet ads to solicit sex with the victims, transported them to San Francisco, kept them in hotel rooms where the prostitution activities were conducted and received the money individuals paid to have sex with the victims.
Massette also was alleged to have had a prior serious felony conviction for vehicular manslaughter as a result of an incident in San Francisco in February 2002 during which he ran over and killed 16-year-old Nicholas Artola in a Safeway parking lot during a gang fight.
In October, Pickersgill reached an agreement with Anderson in which she pleaded guilty to one count of human trafficking and will receive three years of probation, credit for the four months she served in the Lake County Jail after her arrest and strict mental health treatment. She faces up to 12 years in prison if she does not complete the terms of her probation.
Anderson said he believed that when Pickersgill met Massette she was on medication for mental health issues. He said Massette took her off of the medication and coerced her into prostitution. While Anderson believed Pickersgill initially was a victim, he said she later became “a willing participant.”
Pickersgill’s plea agreement resulted in a backlash of public opinion for Anderson, with community members calling it too lenient.
Anderson said Tuesday that Pickersgill is expected to be sentenced next week.
Victims describe crimes, criticize plea agreement
Leniency would again be a concern during Massette’s Tuesday afternoon sentencing, which ran about a half hour in Lunas’ courtroom. In addition to Anderson, the hearing was attended by his successor, District Attorney-elect Susan Krones.
A District Attorney’s Office staffer read three victim impact statements which explained in stark detail what the young women suffered, their response to Massette’s sentencing and fears of retaliation.
The first statement was from a young woman who was 16 when she first met Massette. She described a problematic home life. “Sam was aware of the hard time I was having,” she said, explaining that he used it to groom her for his plans.
He gave her drugs and alcohol and, after only two weeks of knowing her, he offered her a job in San Francisco. When she went with him to San Francisco, she said he took her to a friend's house, told her to take off her clothes and began taking pornographic pictures of her.
What followed was four months of Massette selling her as a prostitute on the weekends. She said both Massette and a friend also had sex with her.
Throughout this time, the young woman said Massette kept her high on methamphetamine and alcohol. She would be an addict for several years as a result. She said she felt dirty.
She asked for the court to give Massette the maximum punishment so he can’t get out of prison and commit the same crimes again.
The second letter came from a young woman who called herself “the last Jane Doe.”
“Half a year is all it took for Sam Massette to turn my life upside down,” she said, describing how Massette shared with her his desire to create a prostitution empire. He had violent tendencies and what she called a bipolar character.
Massette, who worked as a counselor – and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology he earned from Marymount California University in 2016 – “used his profession to get inside the minds and heart of his victims, including me,” she said.
She called Massette a “monster” who has never shown compassion or mercy. “He deserves nothing. Prison is too good for him.”
The young woman also said the punishment didn’t fit the crime. “How could this sentence ever been seen as just or fair?” she asked, noting he had even victimized his own wife.
“Sam Massette made me feel like an object,” she said, explaining that when he looked at women he only saw price tags on their heads.
Had he not been caught, he would have continued his crimes, she said, adding, “This parasite deserves no mercy, no compassion and no respect.”
The third letter was from a young woman who said she was 17 when Massette and another man transported her to a cheap hotel in San Francisco, where she was subjected to one night of prostitution before she told them her self respect was not for sale.
She said she didn't know if she would be killed for refusing. “Luckily, I was unharmed.”
Over the years, she said she told people about Massette but nothing was done. However, after his June arrest, she reached out to a District Attorney’s Office investigation about her experiences and those of another young woman. She said Massette targeted children.
She voiced betrayal and anger at the plea agreement. “I was given promises in return for my cooperation,” she said. “Those promises have been broken.”
She said the prosecution has physical evidence, four victims willing to testify and yet still only offered a deal with a total 20-year term. Most disgusting to her was that she said the plea was not presented to the victims.
The young woman recounted watching a 15-year-old child cry and beg Massette not to force her to have sex with more men due to pain. Massette, in response, laughed and told the girl, “You can be done when the phone stops ringing.”
She said she spit on the deal, that her justice had been stolen. “This is not justice for a repeat offender. This is not justice for a man who killed someone and joked about it,” she said in reference to the 2002 San Francisco vehicular manslaughter case in which Massette was convicted.
The woman said Massette is a career criminal who talked openly about his criminal lifestyle, and had sports cars and mink coats.
“Please do everything in your power to give justice to the victims,” she wrote.
Judge moves forward with sentencing despite concerns of victims
Massette, who has remained in custody since his June arrest, sat facing Judge Lunas from the courtroom’s jury box while wearing a black and white jumpsuit. He was seated alongside his attorney, Tom Quinn.
Following the reading of the victim impact statements, Quinn told the court that Massette did have remorse. Quinn cited a letter Massette had submitted to the court, and added that the victims had been in contact with Massette more than 10 years ago.
Anderson countered that Massette has been on a continuing course of conduct over the past 10 years.
Lunas said he had reviewed the case. “I take issue with the representation that Mr. Massette shows remorse.”
The judge cited Massette’s own words in the letter that was included in the probation report, in which Massette claimed no one forced anyone to work with him and his wife.
“That, to the court's mind, does not recognize accountability or remorse,” and certainly not any sympathy for the harm left in Massette’s and Pickersgill’s trail, Lunas said.
In that letter, a copy of which was obtained by Lake County News, Massette said that he had fallen on hard times and that his wife, who was working as a “webcam model” and a hairdresser, was supporting him.
Yet, in the next paragraph, he wrote that no one was forced to work with his wife, but that “they were attracted to us and the life style,” and made the choice to work with them.
He said human trafficking “is something far more involved and sinister,” and that he and his wife were not a criminal organization or gang. “I feel hurt and sorry, as well as my wife Krystina about any hurt, distress, we/I had caused for anyone that was overwhelmed, or misunderstood what we were doing.” He claimed they went to great lengths to tell the women what they were doing.
“We are a loving couple unlike what has been said in the papers,” he said, adding later, “The human trafficking charges were far over blown.”
Lunas said the issue for the court was whether the plea agreement be accepted, which it had been by another judge.
That led to the question before him, specifically – whether to follow through. “There are certainly reasons not to,” Judge Lunas acknowledged, citing the harm the victims had suffered and how Massette had targeted vulnerable girls.
Lunas said it would be problematic for him to second guess the District Attorney’s Office in evaluating strengths and weaknesses of a case, noting that it’s the district attorney’s job to set aside emotion and feelings and make a determination on how to try a case. “I have a reason to believe that has occurred in this case.”
While he understood the call for additional punishment for Massette, Lunas said he didn’t believe the court had that ability at this point, and trying to take that action would start the proceedings anew, which he wasn’t willing to do.
Lunas pointed out that the court at one point would have possibly had some discretion in making the counts run consecutive rather than concurrent, which could have added another 10 years to Massette’s sentence.
Quinn pointed out that Massette and Pickersgill had given up a few hundred thousand dollars’ worth of assets, among them them, several vehicles – including two newer Jaguars – and $14,000 in cash.
Anderson countered that two vehicles were returned to the bank and the others seized were not worth as much as originally thought.
Lunas then passed sentence, denying Massette probation and ordering him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Massette also was ordered to pay a $6,000 restitution fine and several hundred dollars in court-related fines and fees.
At the same time, the remaining six counts in the complaint against Massette were dismissed by Lunas.
After the sentencing had concluded, Anderson told Lake County News he had met with some of the victims to tell them about the plea agreement.
While all of the charges against Massette could have resulted in a life sentence had he been convicted, Anderson said he didn’t think he could have won that case at trial.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
