Minneapolis, United States

United States · Minneapolis · 2008 (location generalized to protect survivors)

A 36-year-old Minneapolis man on Monday became the first in what the U.S. attorney in Minnesota promises will be a long line of human traffickers to be sentenced to lengthy prison terms. On Monday, U.S. District Judge David Doty ordered McNeal to spend more than 24 years in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime on supervised release. McNeal asked for mercy at his sentencing Monday. His lawyer said McNeal had been raised in a bordello and abused sexually and physically since he was a boy. McNeal denied ever forcing the teen or his other alleged victims to become prostitutes. But McNeal's ex-wife and the mother of his 6-year-old daughter called him a liar and begged the court to ignore his pleas. She said she fears for her life when he's released from prison. "He beat that girl senseless like he beat me," the woman said. Holding up her left hand clutched loosely in a fist, she said McNeal beat her with a truck windshield wiper, severing a tendon and permanently damaging her hand. "He raped me. He beat me. He cut me. He cut off all my hair," the woman said between sobs. "He never said, in seven years, that he was sorry." Doty rejected McNeal's request for leniency and sentenced him to 293 months in prison, citing the age of his victim and the "grave public interest in ceasing human trafficking." Paulose said on Monday that she appreciated Doty's comments. "I think his sentence, which is a remarkable sentence in federal court, is a recognition of the seriousness of the crime and the human impact that this has on real people."