Lake in the Hills man sentenced to 7 years for juvenile pimping

A Lake in the Hills man was sentenced to 7½ years in prison for his role in the prostitution of a 14-year-old girl from Kansas on New Year’s Eve 2009.

Donald R. Jones, 54, was sentenced as part of a negotiated plea for the Class 1 felony charge of juvenile pimping, according to a release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office.

Jones is the third defendant in the case to be sentenced. The two other defendants, Kari Knox, 37, and Antwanette Atkins, 44, both of Lake in the Hills, were found guilty of involuntary servitude of a minor in a jury trial last August.

According to evidence at their trial, Knox and Atkins arranged for the 14-year-old girl to engage in prostitution and the proceeds from that act were given to Jones, who drove the girl from Wichita to the suburbs Illinois. Atkins and Knox were each sentenced to seven years in prison.

Defense attorneys in the co-defendants’ case argued that Jones was the plot’s mastermind.

The girl testified that she had sex with two men for money on Dec. 31, 2009, but had second thoughts about it and wanted to go home the next day. The prosecution pointed to prostitution histories for both women — Atkins alone had 196 prostitution convictions — as reasons for longer sentences. Both women bought the girl sexy clothes, took photos of her and created a website posting.