Federal prosecutors are seeking a 40-year prison sentence for a Chicago pimp convicted of sex trafficking an underage girl allegedly killed by a client, saying he used the bodies of the vulnerable young girls he recruited “like his personal ATM machine.”
“Sex trafficking is a repugnant, vile, and dangerous business,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing Tuesday asking for the 40-year term for Joseph Hazley. “Victims have the most intimate parts of their bodies rented for use by strangers.”
Hazley’s attorneys, meanwhile, asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to sentence him to the statutory minimum of 10 years in prison, saying he had lived an otherwise law-abiding life despite a “tumultuous” upbringing in Chicago’s violence-torn Englewood neighborhood.
A federal jury convicted Hazley, 35, in March of charges of sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking a minor and transporting victims of sex trafficking across state lines.
He was found guilty of trafficking 16-year-old Desiree Robinson, who authorities said was killed by a man who had answered a sex ad posted by Hazley on the now-shuttered site Backpage.com. Hazley was also convicted of pimping two other girls on Backpage as well as taking one of them to Ohio and Indiana to have sex for money.
Coleman is scheduled to sentence Hazley on June 12.
The man charged in Robinson’s killing, Antonio Rosales, of Chicago, is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.
Although Hazley was not charged directly in Robinson’s death, prosecutors wrote in their 18-page filing that the case is a stark reminder of the “constant state of danger” faced by sex trafficking victims.
“Desiree’s demise is why law enforcement works so hard to prosecute sex traffickers like the defendant and rescue victims before they meet this same foreseeable fate,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Parente and Kelly Greening wrote. “Even when death is not the end result for a trafficking victim, they are typically imposed with a life sentence of psychological trauma caused by their traffickers.”
Prosecutors also noted that Hazley has never shown any remorse for Robinson’s death. In addition to the hefty prison sentence, prosecutors are seeking $45,000 in restitution to cover counseling costs for one of the victims as well as $14,000 in funeral and burial expenses incurred by Robinson’s family.
Hazley’s attorney, Raymond Wigell, wrote in his filing that Hazley has “mourned the death of the young woman he knew as ‘Nikki’ ” and agreed that she died as a result of a “senseless act of violence.”
Wigell described Hazley as hardworking, creative and a “fundamentally good man” who had managed to escape the “black mark” of a felony conviction despite his rough upbringing.
When Hazley was 5 years old, his father, Marvin Reeves, was convicted in the notorious arson killings of two women and three children and sentenced to life in prison, Wigell said. The case gained national notoriety after Reeves’ co-defendant, Ronald Kitchen, alleged he confessed only after being tortured by detectives working under then-Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge. Reeves was eventually exonerated and freed after 21 years in prison.
“His absence was hard on the family, who spent many years living in the projects, but (Hazley) was able to talk to him on the phone and the two maintained their relationship,” Wigell wrote. “Since his release in 2007, Marvin and Joe have continued to build that relationship, and are quite close.”
Prosecutors have said Hazley drove Robinson to an appointment in south suburban Markham on Christmas Eve 2016 and waited in the car. When she didn't return, he went looking and found her body, they said. She'd been beaten, strangled and had her throat slit.
Since Hazley was not charged with Robinson's killing, Coleman limited at trial what prosecutors could say about the circumstances of her death.
Among the evidence heard by jurors was that Hazley deleted photos of Robinson from his computer after she died and threw her clothing and other possessions in the trash.
Robinson's friend Tobijah Burks testified that he reached out to the teen in December 2016 and was met with a chilling response: "I'm in a bad situation," she texted.
Robinson told Burks she was being "pimped" by a man who was holding her against her will. In a series of brief texts, she said she was being held at a house on the South Side. She didn't have any money and didn't think her bus card worked.
"I don't have anywhere else to go," Robinson wrote. "I came here for a party. ... He told me he was going to take me home, but now he won't let me leave."
Burks testified he never saw Robinson again.
Robinson's slaying, meanwhile, became a focal point in a recent effort to hold websites such as Backpage accountable for alleged criminal use of ad space. After her daughter's death, Robinson's mother filed a lawsuit against the website alleging the company knowingly facilitated sex traffickers. She also testified before Congress.
Backpage was shut down last year, and several of its former executives are facing criminal charges of human trafficking conspiracy.
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