A Pittsburg resident who pleaded no contest to felony charges of pimping out his so-called girlfriend is set to marry another woman during his sentencing hearing in a San Mateo County courtroom Friday afternoon, but the wedding never materialized.
Foster Shane Gaines, 37, was sentenced to eight years in state prison. According to his attorney, he was "jilted" by his intended bride.
The prosecution originally objected to the courthouse wedding, but Judge Joseph Bergeron denied that objection.
"If she wants to marry him, there is little that we can do to stop it," Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.
"The court can issue a no contact order, but it's almost futile in a sense," she said. "How will they stop the contact if he is serving a prison sentence? I suppose the prison could refuse to allow her in, but I think it's hard to imagine that they could keep her from calling or writing."
Gaines and his victim were apprehended through a sting operation conducted by the South San Francisco Police Department and the Human Trafficking Task Force last January. Officers contacted them through the now-defunct prostitution website MyRedbook and arranged a "date" at a local hotel.
Gaines told the county probation department that the victim was his girlfriend but at the same time was planning a marriage to another woman, Guidotti said.
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The victim, who had worked for Gaines since 2011, continued to visit him in jail and work for him, despite Gaines threatening to burn her parents' house down when she tried to quit in 2013, according to prosecutors.
Gaines already has one strike against him from a prior conviction for shooting two people, for which he served 13 years in state prison.
