State’s Attorney Announces Guilty Pleas in Chicago Human Trafficking Operation

Ten people have pled guilty to human trafficking charges and will serve a combined 102 years in prison sentences as a result of the first ever state-based wiretap investigation targeting the sex trafficking of children and young women on the streets of Chicago, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today.

Operation “Little Girl Lost” targeted current and former street gang members who were working together managing a group of children and young women who they sex trafficked on the streets or through the internet.  The State’s Attorney’s Office charged 10 defendants when the results of the operation were announced in August of 2011.  The tenth and final defendant entered a guilty plea last week marking a first-of-its kind human trafficking takedown in Cook County in which all of the defendants have pled guilty to the charges against them.

According to State’s Attorney Alvarez, the operation and resulting guilty pleas are a direct result of new legal tools and the unique “Chicago Approach” her administration has taken in the crackdown on sex trafficking cases which is gaining notoriety in states across the nation.

In 2011, Alvarez formed a specialized Human Trafficking Unit and worked to pass the Illinois Safe Children’s Act, which provided sweeping new legal provisions enabling local prosecutors to use wiretaps and electronic surveillance for the first time in Illinois history.  The “Chicago Approach” also places a heavy emphasis on the rescue and recovery of vulnerable young victims who become caught up in the sex trade.

“These guilty pleas are the direct result of the new approach that we are taking in human trafficking cases that is for the first time enabling us to hold these offenders accountable for their cruel, violent and inhumane behavior,” said Alvarez.  “It is a new day here in Chicago for defendants like these who would attempt to sell the sexual services of women and children on our streets.”

The nine male defendants targeted in the operation were all charged with the Class X felony of Aggravated Trafficking in Persons.  The defendants were charged with trafficking a total of 16 victims, including 11 children and five young adults.

Over the last year, these nine defendants have pled guilty to the charges and have received prison sentences ranging from seven to 20 years.  The sole female defendant pled guilty to Trafficking in Persons, a Class 1 felony, and was sentenced to six years in prison.

The State’s Attorney’s Office worked in partnership with a number of agencies in the “Little Girl Lost” investigation, including the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the F.B.I., the U.S. Marshal’s Office and multiple local police agencies including the Evergreen Park Police Department and the Franklin Park Police Department.

As part of the Human Trafficking Initiative, the State’s Attorney’s Office also partners with the Salvation Army’s Stop-It program and other social service providers who are “embedded” in the unit’s day to day operations and who offer immediate outreach and services to sex trafficking victims who are recovered as a result of arrests and investigations.

The “Little Girl Lost” operation targeted the current or former gang members who sex trafficked the victims using physical and emotional abuse to control the young women, including threatening to kill them or their families, beatings, branding them with tattoos, and “trunking,” an exceptionally cruel punishment that involves locking the victim in the trunk of the car for periods of time.

According to intelligence developed during the course of the investigation, the defendants would compete with each other on a daily basis to recruit girls and make the most profits.  At the same time, they worked as “pimp partners,” following a set of street rules as to how they dealt with each other and how they were expected to deal with the girls under their control.

A total of 93 defendants have been charged with human trafficking offenses since the creation of the new unit in 2010.