Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Chicago, Illinois, Elk Grove Village, Cook County (2011)

A sex trafficking case from 2011 in Chicago, Illinois, Elk Grove Village, Cook County, United States.

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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

The trafficker was originally charged on August 8, 2010 following arrest with one count of involuntary servitude, a Class X felony; one felony count of trafficking of persons for labor or services; one count of unlawful restraint; one count of pandering; one count of possession of a controlled substance – heroin; and one count of possession of a controlled substance – cocaine. He was convicted May 3, 2011 following a three day jury trial on felony charges of Involuntary Servitude, Trafficking in Persons for Forced Labor or Services and Pandering and faced up to 30 years in prison. His final sentencing by Cook County Judge William lacy was an 18 year prison term. This is the second time this year the Sheriff’s Vice Unit has charged someone for human trafficking, but he was the first person convicted in Cook County under the updated laws against human trafficking. Sheriff Dart thanked the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit for their assistance in the case. His conviction was the result of efforts by State's Attorney Alvarez's new Human Trafficking Initiative Unit, which worked in cooperation in this case with Cook County Sheriff's Police. "Today's sentence represents a significant achievement in our new efforts to investigate and prosecute the crime of human trafficking, which is occurring in our own backyard," said State's Attorney Anita Alvarez in a release today. “Human trafficking is a problem that is becoming more prevalent in our communities and it is a crime that no woman or child should be subjected to,” said Alvarez. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute offenders who are forcing victims to sell themselves and help victims seek the help they need.”

Response and intervention

The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Vice Unit arrested the trafficker after responding to a suspicious ad posted on the Escorts section of the website Backpage.com. The ad contained solicitations such as “Sexy Crystal is here to please and pamper you”, “Call me before 1 a.m. and get your discount”, and “Girlfriend experience”. After responding to the ad, police were directed to an Elk Grove Village motel, where they discovered he was operating a prostitution ring through coercion. Police found more than $2,700 in cash, six cameras and a laptop computer in his motel room. Also recovered were small amounts of crack cocaine and heroin, which were locked in the motel room’s safe, according to the release. Authorities allege the trafficker threw the safe key out of the motel window when police arrived. Officers found one of the women in the motel room, the release said. The trafficker was arrested with a second woman in a room across the hall. The third woman was found at a nearby motel. The victims are currently held in a safe location provided by the Sheriff's Department of Women's Justice Services. All other aftercare is unknown. Sheriff's Department of Women's Justice Services out of a collaboration with the State's Attorney's Human Trafficking Initiative Unit. The trafficker was arrested in August 2010 by Cook County Sheriff's Police and the department's Vice Unit in a surveillance and sting operation in Elk Grove village. This was following a joint investigation by investigators in the State’s Attorney’s Human Trafficking Initiative Unit and Cook County Sheriff’s Police Vice officers under new initiatives created by the State’s Attorney’s office to combat the problem of domestic human trafficking. Under the new initiative, Cook County prosecutors work with law enforcement partners at the federal, state and local level on long term investigations and assist social service providers with securing services for women and children who are victims of human trafficking. The Human Trafficking Initiative Unit from the state's attorney’s office, including assistant state's attorneys Beth Pfeiffer and Matthew Thrun, had worked on the case in cooperation with the Cook County Sheriff's Police.

Nearby cases

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Sex Trafficking2012

Mt. Prospect, Illinois, United States, 2012

United States US

On January 30, 2012 a federal jury convicted Alex Campbell, a suburban massage parlor owner of various federal crimes including sex-trafficking, forced labor, harboring illegal aliens, confiscating passports to further forced labor, and extortion involving four foreign women whom he mentally and physically abused while forcing them to work for him between July 2008 and January 2010. Campbell was found guilty of three counts each of forced labor, harboring illegal aliens for financial gain, and confiscating passports and other immigration documents to force the victims to work, and one count each of sex trafficking by force, and extortion. The jury deliberated approximately two to three hours following a three-week trial in U.S. District Court. The trial showed that Campbell, who formerly operated the Day and Night Spa on Northwest Highway in Mt. Prospect, Illinois used violence and threats of violence to force three women from the Ukraine and one from Belarus to work for him without pay and, at times, little to no subsistence. The testimony and evidence showed that Campbell recruited and groomed foreign women without legal status in the United States to become part of his “Family,” which he claimed was an international organization that would provide them with support. He offered them jobs in his massage parlor, a place to live, assistance with immigration, and lured each of them to enter into a romantic relationship with him. After gaining their trust, he forced the victims to get tattooed with his moniker, which he said made them his property and allowed him to stop paying them. At the same time, he acquired the women’s passports and visas. The women were forced to work long hours every day and do as Campbell instructed them, and they were beaten and punished if they disobeyed him. Trial testimony established that Campbell confiscated passports and identity documents from three of the victims, as well as harbored and transported them to ensure their continued labor. Campbell forced one victim to engage in commercial sex acts with customers at various other massage parlors, but not at the Day and Night Spa, which testimony showed he operated “cleanly” to avoid problems with law enforcement. All four victims testified as government witnesses at trial, as well as co-defendant, Danielle John, 25, who pleaded guilty before trial to two counts of harboring illegal aliens for financial gain and is also awaiting sentencing. Campbell extorted another victim to pay him more than $25,000 to leave the “Family” by threatening to send a sexually-explicit video recording to her parents in Belarus.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking1998

Mt. Prospect, Illinois, United States, 1998

United States US

Alex Mishulovich Male Age – 50 Charged with visa fraud, peonage - keeping someone in servitude- and conspiracy to commit peonage Served 9 years and was released on 11/30/2006 Vadim Gorr Drove the women to their jobs and held them against their wills. Charged with Visa Fraud and has since been released on Parole Rudite Pede Female Age- 34 Mishulovich's wife and helped recruit some of the women in Latvia, assuring them the way only a woman could that they'd be safe and the work was respectable. Released from prison 6/11/1999 The girls were given movies to watch -- "Showgirls'' and "Striptease'' -- to learn how to dance exotically. Associates exerted control over the women by demeaning them, telling them they'd committed a crime coming into the country, that his U.S. citizenship gave him more credibility with police. He exerted control over the women by beating them and bragging about supposed connections to the Chechen mafia. Mishulovich promised each of the women more than $60,000 a year. All they had to do was dance in "upscale" nightclubs completely clothed, lie at the embassy about their purpose for traveling to the United States, and hand over half of their earnings until they paid off their transportation debts. When they arrived in Chicago in November 1997, they were told they would be dancing topless. Their identification papers were taken and they were required to give all but $20 of the $200 to $600 they made nightly to Mishulovich. "He inflated the costs and kept building their debt," explains FBI Special Agent Michael E. Brown. "He told them he needed the money to pay living expenses and bribes to police and politicians." Chicago, IL – Chicago Nightclubs - Admiral, Heavenly Bodies, Thee Dollhouse, Skybox and Crazy Horse 2 Alexander Mishulovich and his associates approached five young women on the streets of Riga, Latvia with flattery and an offer of employment in the United States The women were not allowed to leave the one-bedroom apartment Mishulovich had rented in suburban Mt. Prospect, Illinois, except to work at various strip clubs in Chicago and Harvey, Illinois.

4 sourcesArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking2009

Schiller Park, Illinois, United States, 2009

United States US

quote from first online article: "Cook County sheriff's police conducting a sting discovered three women from Thailand who told investigators they had been forced to work as prostitutes in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Texas in the three weeks they have been in the United States." The second article states that the traffickers were not caught, though the first article states "The (Cook County) sheriff's office is working with federal authorities to investigate the ring."

2 sourcesArchive 2008–2016