A 51-year-old Beloit man accused of giving drugs to women and girls and pushing them into prostitution is sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Following a four-day trial in federal court in February, Cory Hereford was found guilty of sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, maintaining a property for the purposes of distributing and using controlled substances, and of having committed sex trafficking of a minor while being a person previously convicted of a crime that required registering as a sex offender.

According to the criminal complaint Hereford gave his victims crack cocaine and heroin and eventually forced them into prostitution in order to pay him back.

Hereford is a registered sex offender from a 1994 conviction.

The case is the result of an investigation by the Janesville Police Department with the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and the Rock County Sheriff’s Office.