Suburban women get 7 years in child prostitution scheme

A judge Tuesday sentenced two Lake in the Hills women to seven years in prison for their roles in the prostitution of a 14-year-old girl from Kansas.

Kari Knox, 37, and Antwanette Atkins, 44, faced up to 30 years in prison after a jury convicted them of involuntary servitude of a minor after an August trial.

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 defendants are convicted of involuntary servitude of a minor. That crime involves always commercial sexual activity by a minor and consequently carries with it the threat of bodily harm (through exposure to sexually transmitted diseases),” McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon said.

Assistant State's Attorney Sharyl Eisenstein argued for a 10-year sentence for Knox and 12 years for Atkins.

Eisenstein pointed to prostitution histories for both women — Atkins alone had 196 prostitution convictions — as reasons for longer sentences, as well as the age of the girl at the time.

Eisenstein also argued that both women were active participants in the scheme, buying the girl sexy clothes, taking photos, creating a website posting and telling the girl how to act.

“They took advantage of a young girl and tried to bring her into their world of prostitution,” Eisenstein said.

Defense attorneys argued that Donald R. Jones, 54, also of Lake in the Hills, was the plot's mastermind and drove the girl from Wichita to the suburbs. Assistant Public Defender Kim Messer argued that the involuntary servitude charge was more fitting for cases of human trafficking and kidnapping.

Messer also noted that Atkins drove the girl to the bus station in Chicago after she said she wanted to go home.

“There was no threat. There was no force. There was no intimidation. There was no coercion,” Messer said.

Special Public Defender Bill Bligh, who was appointed to the case, also noted that while the girl was on the bus home, she sent her friends text messages showing she was “remarkably unaffected” by what happened.

Neither Knox nor Atkins addressed the court. According to state law, they can have their sentences halved for good behavior. They both will get credit for about 22 months in jail while awaiting trial, meaning they could be released from prison in about 20 months.

Jones will stand trial separately and is due in court again on Dec. 21.