A Chicago man will spend 28 years in federal prison after trafficking five young girls and women.
Prosecutors said Dennis Williams operated a trafficking scheme from his Chicago home and motels in Lansing during 2022 and 2023.
Williams used threats, violence, drugs, and other forms of coercion to force five victims — including a 15-year-old girl — into commercial sex acts. Authorities said he also kidnapped two of the victims.
A jury convicted him last year on seven counts related to sex trafficking and kidnapping.
“Williams’ crimes were violent, exploitative, and incredibly serious,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sushma Raju and Michelle Parthum said. “Although the young women and girls that he victimized are now free of defendant’s grasp, the harm that he inflicted on them is likely to reverberate throughout the rest of their lives in the form of increased risk of mental illness and other struggles.”