Milwaukee Man Sentenced to 30 Years’ Imprisonment for Sex Trafficking of Minors

United States Attorney James L. Santelle announced today that on March 29, 2012, Federal District Court Judge Rudolph T. Randa sentenced Milwaukee resident Sean D. Patrick (age 37) to 30 years’ imprisonment following his conviction of four counts of sex trafficking of minors. Judge Randa ordered that Patrick was to begin serving the 30-year federal sentence after he completed his current state court sentence of 20 years, which flowed from his 2011 conviction for second-degree reckless homicide while armed.

According to the indictment and other information disclosed in court proceedings, Patrick began his sex-trafficking activities in the early 2000s. He targeted younger females who appeared to come from disadvantaged and broken families because they were more vulnerable to his persuasion. In his own words, he stated that he “sold them a dream of living in mansions, riding in the best cars, and having jewelry.” “Once I had a girl hooked,” he said, he then brought them into his prostitution business.

Further according to public court records, Patrick typically transported his prostitutes to Chicago to work on the race track there, sometimes driving them in a Chevy conversion van with the words “Ho Hauler” emblazoned on the van’s front quarter panel. Patrick regularly abused his prostitutes for various infractions, including punishments if they disobeyed his rules of prostitution, acted disrespectfully towards him, or missed the evening Greyhound Bus to Chicago and were unable to prostitute that night. As punishment, Patrick struck the females with his fists and hard objects, choked them, stomped on their backs, and made them have sex with his friends in public. In one instance, Patrick recruited a 16-year-old runaway to become his prostitute. When he found out that the police were looking for her in Milwaukee, he took her to Chicago to engage her in prostitution there. On another occasion, Patrick threatened to kill a Greyhound Bus employee who would not allow his prostitutes to board a bus bound for Chicago because the bus was already filled to capacity.

In making the public announcement of the sentence imposed on Patrick, United States Attorney Santelle stated, “Yesterday, through his words and his sentence, Judge Randa voiced the legitimate outrage of our community over the despicable conduct of men who seduce, recruit, exploit, and employ children in the horrific, destructive business of prostitution. This prosecution of Sean Patrick stands as a compelling reminder that those who manipulate and destroy the lives of society’s most vulnerable members in this district and throughout the nation will face consequences of the highest magnitude within our criminal justice system.”

Santelle also explained, “The investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases in Eastern Wisconsin is among the highest priorities of my office, and we will continue to pursue the perpetrators of this heinous conduct with all of the resources available to us.” In that connection, Santelle specifically identified and expressed appreciation for the law enforcement coordination and strategic cooperation accomplished through the Project Safe Childhood Task Force, the Human Trafficking Task Force, and the many federal, state, and local policing offices that participate actively in those partnership groups. He also commended Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph R. Wall and Melvin K. Washington “for their outstanding work in bringing Sean Patrick to justice—work aggressively and effectively supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Milwaukee Police Department, and our highly professional and tireless Victim Witness Staff.”