A Milwaukee man who pimped out his son’s juvenile girlfriends advertised their sexual services on craigslist and sold them both locally and in other states, federal prosecutors allege.
Craigslist has said it is attempting to reduce the number of erotic odds posted on its site. The popular advertising site was sued in federal court by Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Tom Dart who alleged craigslist is facilitating prostitution.
In the Milwaukee case, Todd Carter, 39, and Nicholas Harrison, Carter’s 19-year-old son, are facing charges of conspiracy to sex traffic in children and other related crimes.
The men allegedly were serious about their work: Carter even told a girl she should quit her job at Burger King to devote more time to prostitution, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege the two men ran their prostitution business out of their apartment in the 2300 block of N. 1st St. Harrison would entice girls into being his girlfriends, then Carter would set them up as prostitutes. Carter had one 16-year-old girl engage in sexual training with both him and his son, although on separate occasions.
“Carter took partially nude and pornographic photographs of (the girl) alone and with another prostitute with his Sprint cellular telephone, which he then downloaded to his computer and posted with prostitution advertisements…on the internet website, craigslist.org. Carter instructed CWl how to pose for the photographs,” according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Customers would pay either $150 or $200 for the services, depending on what they wanted. The prostitutes would be driven to their “dates” in the rented cars that Carter used and traveled to Minnesota and Iowa to peddle their wares and parts of their anatomy.
Violence was not uncommon, with fights breaking out between the pimps and prostitutes at various times, according to the complaint.
A prostitute who later was a confidential witness in the case, the complaint said, “tried to stab another prostitute with a knife from the kitchen. Harrison knocked the knife out of CWl’s hand. CWl kicked Harrison, Harrison hit CWl with a skillet, and then CWl struck her head on the sink.”
There was an alleged upside, though.
“Carter instructed (the girl) to advise another underage girl on the benefits of the prostitution lifestyle, such as manicures and getting your hair styled,” according to the complaint.