GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A 15-year-old girl and mother of two toddlers was sentenced to prison for helping to rob prospective johns who responded to an Internet sex ad.

Latesha Clay was sentenced Monday, Jan. 11, to nine years in prison for robbing two men who responded to an ad on Backpage.com. The ad offered sex with a teen.

The victims were robbed after they showed up at a room at Motel 6, 4855 28th St. SE.

Clay wept during the hearing, with family behind her filling many seats in the gallery.

Also charged are Trayvin Donnell Lewis, 18, and Monee Duepre Atkinson, 17.

Police say Clay met the men at the door, and invited them inside after taking their payment. Lewis then threatened them with what turned out to be an Airsoft pistol with the orange tip removed. Police say the older defendants forced one of the victims to drive to an automated-teller machine and withdraw $300.

A victim called police, who found the suspects, $650 and the Airsoft gun in the hotel room.

Defense attorney Louise Johnson said her client, who has two children, ages 1 and 2, grew up with a "lack of a moral compass" but is "not a lost cause."

She said her client's father has 32 children and told the teen she would be "selling herself" after her prison sentence ends.

Clay's mother and grandmother wrote the judge, seeking leniency.

Johnson said of her client: "She's wholeheartedly sorry."

Kent County Circuit Judge George "Jay" Quist sentenced Clay at the low end of sentencing guidelines but said she deserved a significant prison sentence because of the seriousness of the crime, with a gun pointed at the head or neck of one of the men.

Clay pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and two counts of unlawful imprisonment.

John Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterJAgar