State Crime Reports

Bolingbrook Man Sentenced to 47 Years in Federal Prison for Running a Sex Trafficking Ring


CHICAGO ―(ENEWSPF)–October 16, 2015.  A Bolingbrook man has been sentenced to 47 years in federal prison for running a brutal sex trafficking ring that forced four victims into prostitution.

McKENZIE CARSON used violence and coercion to force his victims into working as prostitutes in Chicago and nearby suburbs.  Carson frequently provided the victims with heroin, and he controlled how much of the drug each victim was allowed to use.  One of the victims was 17 years old at the time Carson ran his pimping operation in 2010.

A federal jury in 2013 convicted Carson, 43, on four counts of sex trafficking.  All four victims testified about their ordeals during the trial.

U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo sentenced Carson on Thursday to 47 years in prison for each of the four counts.  The sentences are to run concurrently.

“The defendant’s conduct here was particularly brutal and sadistic, and has caused irreparable harm to his victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Levin argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “He instilled into them fear, intimidation and humiliation.”

Evidence at trial showed that Carson recruited and groomed his victims.  In addition to supplying his victims with heroin, Carson used threats and physical beatings to assert control over them.  When the victims broke his rules or disobeyed him, Carson often raped them.  He also required his victims to commit commercial sex acts, and to give him the money they earned.

Carson, who worked off and on as a taxi driver in Chicago and the suburbs, has been in federal custody without bond since his arrest in 2012.

The sentencing was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and John A. Brown, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of investigation.  The investigation was conducted by a multi-agency task force that was led by the FBI and included the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Will County Sheriff’s Office, and the police departments from Alsip, Bolingbrook, Channahon, Downers Grove, Joliet, Naperville, Oswego, Romeoville, Shorewood, and Westmont.

The government was represented by Ms. Levin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bethany Biesenthal.

Source: www.justice.gov

 


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