Datqunn Sawyer (P-Child) , 32, Convicted of Sex Trafficking Minors

CHICAGO—A federal jury today convicted a Chicago man of running a sex trafficking ring between 2006 and 2010 that forced into prostitution at least nine victims, eight of whom were between the ages of 13 and 17. The defendant, Datqunn Sawyer, was found guilty of 10 counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion and/or sex trafficking of minors, and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors by force. The jury deliberated approximately several hours beginning Friday afternoon following a two-week trial in U.S. District Court. The trial showed that Sawyer was a pimp who chose vulnerable victims, including girls who were young, homeless, or runaways, and used violence and threats of violence to exploit them sexually, knowing that they were minors.

Sawyer, 32, remains in federal custody without bond and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on each count, as well as a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years on nine of the counts. U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras scheduled sentencing for Feb. 23, 2012.

The conviction was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marc Krickbaum and Michelle Nasser.

Six of the nine victims testified as government witnesses during the trial. The evidence showed that Sawyer recruited and groomed his victims, frequently deceiving them by initially concealing that he was a pimp and promising them riches and glamour if they stayed with him. He convinced victims that he loved them and wanted to be in a long-term romantic relationship with them. Sawyer also used threats and physical beatings to enforce a rigid set of rules that left him with a high degree of control over all his victims. Sawyer required the victims to commit commercial sex acts, and to give him the money they made. To maintain his control, he had sex with many of the victims, and impregnated three of them.

Sawyer gave his victims names beginning with a “P”—Precious, Paradise, Pooh, Peaches, Princess, Passion, Pebbles (Bubbles), and Perfect—based on his own nickname of “P-Child,” and had his victims call him “Daddy.” He also had many victims tattooed with his nicknames, and he prohibited his victims from looking at or speaking to other men (other than customers), and from talking back to or disrespecting him. When his victims broke the rules, he threatened or beat them.

Two co-defendants, Kevin Sharp, 53, and Waymond Orr, 33, pleaded guilty before trial. The evidence showed that Sharp and Orr lived with Sawyer and the victims for periods of time and worked as drivers and security guards. Sawyer paid Sharp and Orr in cash and gave them clothes, food, and housing, in exchange for driving victims to and from sexual encounters on the street, referred to as “working the track,” including various locations on and around Cicero Avenue. Other locations were arranged through online advertisements, such as on Craigslist and similar websites. Sharp and Orr watched victims to make sure they were not arrested or “stolen” by another pimp. On occasion, Sawyer told Sharp and Orr to watch victims and make sure they did not leave while Sawyer was away from the house. Both Sharp and Orr knew about Sawyer’s rules and were present when Sawyer beat his victims.

Sharp and Orr also face a maximum of life in prison and are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 18, 2012.

The case was initiated by FBI special agents, investigators from the Chicago Police Department’s Vice Control Section, and investigators from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Vice Section. Based on this case and the advanced investigative techniques used, the Chicago FBI office has formed an Innocence Lost Task Force to address sex trafficking of minors.

In June 2003, the FBI, in conjunction with the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative, which is aimed at addressing the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children in the United States. In the seven years since its inception, the initiative has resulted in the development of 39 dedicated task forces and working groups throughout the country involving federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working in tandem with U.S. Attorney’s Offices.

To date, these groups have worked successfully to rescue more than 1,200 children. Investigations have successfully led to the conviction of over 600 pimps, madams, and their associates who exploit children through prostitution. These convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences, including multiple sentences of 25 years to life in prison and the seizure of real property, vehicles, and monetary assets.

http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2011/chicago-man-convicted-of-sex-trafficking-minors

Girls Tell Horrific Stories At Trial Of Pimp Known As ‘P Child’

CHICAGO (CBS) — A federal sex trafficking trial continues this week, with young prostitutes testifying about the lives they led under the thumb of an alleged pimp.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, Datqunn Sawyer, 32, who goes by the nickname “P Child,” is on trial for charges of sex trafficking in underage girls. He is said to have given them all nicknames that started with the letter P like his own nickname.

One of his alleged prostitutes, a 19-year-old girl who went by the name of “Pooh,” testified that when she was just 12, Sawyer befriended her and took her to his apartment where he lived with at least half a dozen other girls. She saw him throw a girl down a set of stairs, breaking her arm, she said.

Pooh, whose real name is Angelique, was soon put on the streets to prostitute herself, and even given a quota – she had to have sex with five to 15 men every day, she testified.

Sometimes, when she had a “good day,” she said she was rewarded with McDonald’s.

As the months wore on, there was one day, after Sawyer dropped her off at the so-called “track” along Cicero Avenue that she testified she just couldn’t do it. She took off her high heels, sat down on the concrete and wept, she said.

That’s when she said Sawyer appeared from the alley.

“You stupid bitch, you’re supposed to be making my money!” she said he snapped at her. He grabbed her discarded heel and beat her head with it until she started bleeding, she said. She ran off to her grandmother’s house.

But like many of the girls who lived in an apartment with Sawyer at Augusta Boulevard and Pulaski Road on the city’s West Side, Angelique returned.

Angelique, now 19, turned in her witness chair and wiped away tears after Sawyer’s lawyer David Peilet, asked if anyone forced her to go back to Sawyer.

“He had all my information. He had my birth certificate … he knew everything about me.” Angelique then yelled in court. “I was only a child. I was only a child! Where else was I supposed to go?”

Angelique is among a series of victims who since last week testified to living with Sawyer in a bizarre world that they say began with a promise of love and a future, but devolved quickly to forced sex, verbal berating and physical beatings.

Sawyer impregnated three of them, according to evidence, the babies would then live there, and he even stashed cash in baby swings.

The girls, all 12 to 17 when Sawyer found them, were branded with “P Child” tattoos or with Sawyer’s favorite saying after girls handed him cash from the day: “Chedda make it betta.”

Tatiana, nickname “Paradise,” was 16 when she allegedly started turning tricks for Sawyer. She said even though she left home, she always kept a piece of it with her — so she carried around her teddy bear everywhere she went in public, except when turning tricks.

“I felt disgusted,” Tatiana said of the prostitution. “I felt degraded.”

Shawna, known as “Peaches,” was shown in a surveillance video wearing a strapless, colorful shirt pulled over her large, pregnant belly, shorts hugging her upper thighs. She was pregnant with Sawyer’s baby as she looked to turn tricks, she said, at his demand. “My ankles were hurting. I was tired, it was hot,” the doe-eyed Shawna testified. “We didn’t have no food. I needed to eat. So I needed to work.”

The girls each testified that Sawyer, who didn’t have a job, used a silver-studded leather belt or a heavy, wooden pimp stick to beat the girls.

Sawyer’s formal charges include sex trafficking minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. The conspiracy charge alone carries an automatic 15-year minimum sentence if convicted.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/11/15/girls-tell-horrific-stores-at-trial-of-pimp-known-as-p-child/

This is a very sad case , so much child trafficking around the World, some Countries specialise in much younger children , even Babies,!!!!

I imagine these teenagers are from homes where they are not happy , but I do wonder why a Teenager would take beatings, forced sex with different
Men and not one day gor into a Police Station and report this, or even stop a Policeman on his beat. There woulkd have been ways to report their plight.