CHICAGO — A man has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for violently sex trafficking two children in the Chicago area and Wisconsin.
In late 2019 and early 2020, DAVID L. SMITH took sexually explicit photographs of the children, who at the time were 16 and 17 years old, and posted them in commercial sex advertisements on the websites SkipTheGames and MegaPersonals. He then arranged for the children to meet customers in hotel rooms, with Smith keeping all of the money that the children received. On at least one occasion, 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 victim in the face after he learned that the girl had contacted her mother.
Smith, 28, of Milwaukee, Wis., pleaded guilty last year to a federal sex trafficking charge. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr., on Friday ordered Smith to pay $50,000 in restitution to each of his victims.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. Valuable assistance was provided by the Oak Lawn (Ill.) Police Department, FBI Milwaukee Field Office, FBI Kansas City Field Office, FBI St. Louis Field Office, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann Marie E. Ursini and Caitlin S. Walgamuth.
“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.”