Man sentenced to 25 years for violently sex trafficking 2 children in Chicago area, Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for violently sex trafficking two children in the Chicago area and Wisconsin.
David L. Smith, 28, pleaded guilty last year to a federal sex trafficking charge.
According to prosecutors, Smith took sexually explicit photographs of the children in 2019 and 2020— who were 16 and 17 years old at the time — and posted them in commercial sex advertisements on the websites SkipTheGames and MegaPersonals.
Smith then arranged for the children to meet customers in hotel rooms. He kept all the money the children received.
On at least one occasion, prosecutors said that Smith hit the 17-year-old victim in the face after she mistakenly accepted fake money from a customer.
On another occasion, Smith hit the 16-year-old in the face after he learned that the girl contacted her mother, officials said.
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"Defendant caused his minor victims irreparable harm and trauma by causing them to engage in commercial sex on numerous occasions," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie E. Ursini argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. "These victims will carry the emotional scars of the defendant’s actions for the rest of their lives."
The sentence was handed down Monday.