A Winnipeg man arrested in a sex-trafficking case with ties to slain teen Tina Fontaine has been sentenced to time served for sexually exploiting a vulnerable 17-year-old girl.

Jesse Thomas, 32, pleaded guilty Monday, on what was to be the first day of a seven-day trial, to one count of receiving a material benefit from the sexual services of a person under 18. Thomas had been in custody since June 2015.

In a plea bargain, the Crown stayed six additional charges, including human trafficking, procuring, kidnapping and sexual assault.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, Thomas and others, including the victim, occupied a Furby Street apartment from which the victim provided sexual services. Thomas provided "security" and received a cut of the victim's proceeds.

Court heard the 17-year-old's services were advertised on a website. The Crown and defence did not reach an agreement on who placed the ad or how the girl came to be present at the apartment.

The victim was described as a chronic runaway who suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Had the matter gone to trial, it was uncertain if the victim would have been able to provide helpful testimony, said Crown attorney Daniel Chaput.

"She would have struggled in court," he said.

At the time of Tina Fontaine's death, her aunt told CBC News that the 15-year-old had stayed at the Furby apartment for a weekend in the weeks leading up to her disappearance and killing.

Fontaine's body was pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg in 2014. Her death became one of the country's most infamous murdered Indigenous women and girls cases.​

Raymond Cormier has been charged with second-degree murder in Fontaine's death.