Three Defendants Arrested for Allegedly Transporting Minor Girls from Iowa to Chicago to Engage in Prostitution

CHICAGO—Three defendants have been arrested in Iowa and Ohio on federal charges filed in Chicago for allegedly engaging in sex trafficking of three minor girls they transported earlier this year from Iowa City to Chicago for prostitution, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The defendants were each charged with one count of conspiracy to transport minors across state lines to engage in prostitution in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The charges allege that the defendants knew that coercion, force, and the threat of force would be used to cause the victims to engage in commercial sex acts.

Defendant Malik McKee, 19, and his sister, Shuntina McKee, 23, both of Iowa City and formerly of suburban Country Club Hills, Illinois, were arrested yesterday in Iowa City. The third defendant, Willie Woods, 41, of Toledo, Ohio, and formerly of Iowa City, was arrested Friday in Toledo. The government is seeking to have all three defendants transferred to Chicago in custody to face the charges here.

The arrests and charges were announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; William C. Monroe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The FBI and CPD conducted the investigation, in coordination with the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force. Federal prosecutors and law enforcement authorities in the Southern District of Iowa and the Northern District of Ohio also provided assistance.

According to the complaint, the investigation began on April 25, 2012, when one of the victims—Minor A, who was 14 at the time—snuck out of a room at a hotel in the 9100 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago after others were asleep and called her mother in Iowa. The girl’s mother called the Chicago Police and officers responded to the hotel and contacted federal authorities.

The complaint states that online advertisements posted on various Internet sites in Chicago and elsewhere, hotel records, bus records, and other evidence show that the defendants acted as pimps and posted online ads promoting prostitution of the three victims—Minors A, B, and C, all from Iowa and ages 14, 16 and 16, respectively, at the time. In April this year, Malik McKee and Woods allegedly purchased bus tickets for the victims and transported them from Iowa City to Chicago to engage in prostitution. All three defendants allegedly benefitted financially from the charged conspiracy.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan Church and Bethany Biesenthal.

Sex trafficking of minors carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

FELON SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

A man who possessed a pistol after having been convicted of five previous felonies was sentenced August 1, 2012, to 10 years in federal prison.

Randy Scott Smith, age 50, of Corwith, Iowa, received his prison term after a February 10, 2012, guilty plea to one count of possessing a firearm having been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

According to information presented by the United States at the change of plea hearing and sentencing, from age 19 to 50, Smith had accumulated more than 28 convictions, probation and parole violations. These included five felony drunk driving offenses. Each of these felonies precluded Smith from lawfully possessing a firearm under federal law.

Despite this fact, however, on or about June 9, 2011, defendant possessed a 9- millimeter pistol. Smith had been drinking and became increasingly agitated through the day. Smith threatened to kill the people with him at the residence, then got the 9- millimeter pistol, and started waving the gun around. Later he threatened people with a sledge hammer. Smith also threatened to kill himself.

Smith was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Hamel was sentenced to 120 months' imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Smith is being held in the United States Marshal's custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 11-3049.

The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the ATF; and the Hancock County Sheriff's Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.

Former Des Moines Police Officer Convicted of Excessive Use of Force and Obstruction of Justice

DES MOINES, IA—A federal jury in Des Moines, Iowa, convicted former Des Moines Police Department Officer Mersed Dautovic of violating a person’s civil rights, through the use of excessive force, and obstruction of justice, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt.

The jury found that Dautovic violated a citizen’s civil rights by beating him during a traffic stop. The jury specifically found that Dautovic used a dangerous weapon, an ASP baton, and caused serious bodily injury. The jury also found that Dautovic obstructed justice by falsifying a written statement about the incident. Dautovic was ordered detained by the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.

The civil rights/use of excessive force count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The obstruction of justice count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

This case was investigated by the Des Moines Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was jointly prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Sioux City Man With History of Violence Gets More Than 27 Years for Federal Drug and Firearms Conviction

A Sioux City man was sentenced May 31, 2012, to over twenty-seven years in federal prison for distributing marijuana, illegally possessing firearms, and possessing firearms in furtherance of his drug trafficking crimes.

Isaiah Earl Thomas, age 27, of Sioux City, Iowa, received his prison term after a September 22, 2011, guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing firearms after being convicted of a crime of domestic violence. Thomas had a number of prior convictions for domestic violence which precluded him from lawfully possessing any firearms.

Information provided by the United States at the sentencing and change of plea hearings revealed that on February 23, 2011, in his Sioux City, Iowa home defendant repeatedly brutalized his girlfriend and her friend who was merely visiting the apartment. Thomas broke two of his girlfriends’s fingers, stood on her head, choked her, forced his hand into her month in an attempt to break her jaw, and shoved a pistol into her eye ripping her eyelid and destroying a tear duct. Thomas knocked his second victim unconscious. After the assaults occurred, Thomas drove his girlfriend to the hospital and instructed her to lie about how she acquired the injuries. Officers found the second victim in Thomas’s apartment unconscious and she too was transported to the hospital to receive medical attention. Officers executed a search warrant for the apartment and found, among other things, two loaded handguns – one of which was covered with fresh blood and hair, several individually packaged baggies of marijuana, two larger Ziplock bags containing marijuana, other items associated with the drug trade. The investigation later revealed Thomas had a long history of violence.

Thomas was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Thomas was sentenced to 327 months' imprisonment. A special assessment of $300 was imposed. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Thomas is being held in the United Stats Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 11-4074.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Sioux City Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.

Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested

Edward Reinhold, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Omaha Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today’s arrest of William M. Fiorito, Jr., date of birth 12/25/67, after a federal warrant was issued for him on 5/3/12. The warrant alleges his involvement in two bank robberies which occurred at two separate locations of Peoples National Bank in Council Bluffs within minutes of each other on 10/14/11.

Mr. Fiorito was arrested, without incident, at a home in Council Bluffs, Iowa by the Council Bluffs Police Department and assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

William M. Fiorito, Jr. is presumed innocent until/unless he is proven guilty in a court of law.

Manhunt for Accused Sex Offender Ends in Chicago

DES MOINES, Iowa – A nationwide manhunt for accused sex offender James Julius Beaudrie ended this morning with the fugitive’s arrest in Chicago, IL. 

The Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, a team of law enforcement officers led by U.S. Marshals in Chicago, attempted to locate Beaudrie around 7 a.m. this morning at an apartment complex in Chicago.  The location was developed during the course of the U.S. Marshals’ investigation in Des Moines as a possible address for Beaudrie’s mother.

Once the arrest team made entry into the apartment, task force officers learned that Beaudrie had fled through a rear door of the apartment moments earlier in an apparent attempt to avoid arrest.  Following a short search of the area, task force officers located Beaudrie who was attempting to hide under a stairwell of the apartment complex.  Task force officers arrested Beaudrie without further incident.

Beaudrie was transported to the Chicago Police Department’s central processing center.  He is expected to be transported later today to the Cook County Jail where he will await extradition back to Iowa.

Beaudrie is wanted by the Des Moines Police Department on eight counts of third-degree sexual abuse following a six-month investigation into allegations that he attempted to sexually assault at least one of his nine children.  An arrest warrant was issued for Beaudrie on April 6.

The Des Moines Police Department requested U.S. Marshals assistance when it was suspected that Beaudrie had fled the state of Iowa.  A nationwide manhunt ensued.

On April 13, U.S. Marshals and the Salt Lake City, Utah Police Department recovered Beaudrie’s abandoned vehicle at a Greyhound Bus Station in Salt Lake City.  On April 17, U.S. Marshals offered a $3500 reward for information leading to Beaudrie’s arrest.  

In all, leads generated through investigation, media coverage, and tips from the public spanned seven states across the nation including Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, and Oregon.  Although the information developed which led to Beaudrie’s arrest in Chicago was not generated through a tip from the public, the Des Moines Police Department and the U.S. Marshals wish to thank the public and the media for their assistance and willingness to come forward to help law enforcement in Beaudrie’s capture.

The United States Marshals Service currently leads seven regional fugitive task forces, including the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force in Chicago, and 85 local fugitive task forces, including the Southern Iowa Fugitive Task Force in Des Moines.  The Southern Iowa Fugitive Task Force is made up of law enforcement officers from the U.S. Marshals, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Department of Public Safety, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). 

“The cooperative effort of the Des Moines Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service, which led to the swift arrest of alleged sex offender James Julius Beaudrie, is just one example of the importance of strong working relationships between federal, state, and local law enforcement partners,” said Michael Bladel, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Iowa.  “We are very fortunate here in the Southern District of Iowa to have such a relationship with the Des Moines Police Department and all of our state and local counterparts.”

U.S. Marshals frequently provide assistance and expertise to other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in support of a wide range of investigations.