Parent/Child Sex Trafficking Case
On September 17, 2009, a couple from Kansas pled guilty to sex trafficking the woman’s daughter. When the charges were filed last year, it was the first parent/child human trafficking case in the United States.
Todd Barkau, 37, started training the daughter at age 12 to engage in acts of sexual bondage, domination, sadism and masochism with him and others. When she turned 14, he set up an online business, marketing her as Mistress Alisha in both online and in-person sexual encounters. The girl’s mother, who is not named to protect the identity of the victim, assisted in the business and received financial compensation, prosecutors said.
In the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Barkau and the victim’s mother pled guilty to commercial sex trafficking of a minor. He will be sentenced to 25 years in prison, and she will get 15. It’s likely he was hit with a longer sentence because he participated in the molestation.
The victim, who is now 22, attended the plea hearings and told the judge that she approved of the plea agreements. Barkau and the woman will be sentenced after pre-sentence investigations are completed.
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Thanks to Tina from New Hampshire for this article.