A 34-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced to 20 years in prison and five years of extended supervision after being found guilty of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, sex trafficking a child, and ten other connected counts.
According to a press statement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Montae D. Jacobs, 34, of Milwaukee, will serve 20 years in prison after being convicted following a bench trial.
According to court records, Jacobs’ charges, for which he was convicted, began in 2019 and continued until 2023. They also include his actions following his arrest and indictment in this case while serving a state prison sentence.
Throughout his incarceration, Jacobs attempted to recruit fresh victims for his sex trafficking operation, including at least one juvenile.
Jacobs allegedly solicited, and in some cases paid, his fellow inmates for the contact information of women and girls who they believed might be susceptible to Jacobs’ pitch, which was that they could quickly become wealthy by prostituting and live-streaming pornographic content if they followed his detailed instructions.
Jacobs asked ladies to pay him a portion of their wages. He also sent letters, emails, and phone calls to every lady who responded to him, exhorting them to call him “daddy” and “king” and “bow down” to him, as well as recruit new victims.
While Jacobs may not have been as financially successful or as violent as some other traffickers previously sentenced in this district, his unusual level of persistence and complete lack of remorse necessitated a harsh sentence, both to protect the community from future crimes by Jacobs and to deter others from engaging in similar conduct.
Judge Adelman further stated that the court’s sentencing decision was impacted by Jacobs’ various and sinister methods of controlling his victims, which included false promises, physical abuse, threats to arrest or evict them, and manipulation of their drug addictions.
“The sentence in this case reflects the fact that human trafficking is a brutal offense involving victimizing individuals day after day,” according to U.S. Attorney Haanstad. “In this case, Mr. Jacobs not only engaged in this behavior while out in the community, but he also proceeded to target vulnerable individuals after being arrested. I applaud everyone’s efforts to seek justice for and give voice to those exploited by Mr. Jacobs.
“Human trafficking is a heinous crime that has no place in Wisconsin or anywhere else,” Attorney General Josh Kaul declared. “Thank you to everyone who collaborated to make this investigation and prosecution successful.”
The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the case, with assistance from the South Milwaukee Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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