CrimeMan sentenced to 25 years for child sex trafficking
A Milwaukee man who admitted prostituting at least a half-dozen teenage girls in Wisconsin and other states was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison, the first person convicted in Wisconsin under a tough federal law aimed at the sex trafficking of children.
Todd "King Tut" Carter, 40, used his teenage son to recruit the girls, took nude photos of them and then posted them on Craigslist, according to court records.
Chief U.S. District Judge Charles N. Clevert told Carter that by pleading guilty in February to conspiracy and child sex trafficking, he spared the victims' families from "details that would perhaps make them shudder" if the case went to trial. Prosecutors had sought a guideline sentence of 30 years.
"You've adversely affected the minds, ambitions and very being" of the victims, Clevert told Carter.
And on top of that, the judge said, Carter didn't use his profits from the crimes to pay down his "absolutely staggering" backlog of support owed to his more than 16 children with different women. He even fathered a child with one of the victims in the case.
One woman did shudder, details or not, as she described how Carter destroyed her granddaughter's spirit. Charlotte M. testified how the girl transformed from a respectful, vivacious 16-year-old to an angry, bitter and confused runaway after she was raped by Carter and sent to work as a prostitute.
The woman was identified in court only as Charlotte M. to protect the identity of her granddaughter. She described her weeks of efforts to find the girl and how she went to Carter's house and banged on his door once she learned of his involvement. Even once Carter was arrested, the woman said, the girl was never the same.
"We haven't been able to pull my granddaughter out of this abyss yet," she told Clevert. The girl, now 18, works as a stripper and refuses her family's efforts to get her psychological help.
Clevert said 25 years should send a message to others involved in the intractable problem of child sex trafficking - which has worsened with the growth of the Internet - will be treated very seriously.
Tougher sentence sought
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wall had sought 30 years, suggesting the message has to reach not only men "who would be involved in this horrible business," but also parents who are too lenient about the risks their children face in the streets, and pop culture media that glamorize pimping and prostitution in videos and music.
"Send a message to the people who pull the strings," Wall told the judge.
At his plea hearing, Carter said he and his son plotted to recruit teenagers for prostitution. Carter said he "trained" the girls, having sex with them, supplying them with condoms for prostitution "dates," telling them how to determine if someone was an undercover officer and driving them to other states for sex.
"Me and my son set down and discussed the things we would do to arrange dates for girls under 18," Carter said.
The son, Nicholas Harrison, 20, pleaded guilty earlier and faces 10 years at his sentencing later this month.
Both were charged in January 2009 with recruiting girls as young as 16 to prostitute in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa, starting in March 2008. Some became Harrison's girlfriends before they worked as prostitutes.
In court, Carter apologized for his offenses and said he finally understands the psychological and emotional damage he caused to the victims and their families. At the time, he said, he didn't think he was hurting anyone.
In a letter to the court, Carter wrote, "I can't even explain why I played any parts of what I did. I give it thought every single day and I even sicken myself."
Other pending child sex trafficking cases in Milwaukee include:
• A man and woman charged last month with picking up a 14-year-old Milwaukee girl off the street and having her perform sex acts with men at a hotel near the airport.
• Derrick Avery, known nationally as "Pimp Snooky," was charged last year with operating a ruthless prostitution ring for more than a decade. The Milwaukee native, who came up in connection with the corruption investigation of former Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee, was arrested in Las Vegas.
Avery has claimed that he has been an actor portraying "Pimp Snooky" but was never a real pimp.
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