MADISON, WIS. - Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that a Madison, Wisconsin man was sentenced on September 14 for using violence, threats and coercion to compel two young women suffering from heroin addiction, to prostitute for his profit in Madison. Harry Miller, 60, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. This prison term will be followed by a 15-year term of supervised release.
On May 23, 2018, a jury convicted Miller of two counts of sex trafficking by force, threats or coercion, and one count of maintaining a property for drug trafficking. What began as an investigation into drug distribution by Miller also became a sex trafficking investigation when officers with the Dane County Narcotics Task Force discovered that Miller had forced two women to engage in commercial sex acts.
At the trial, the two victims testified they both met Miller as a drug supplier, and that they both ended up moving in with Miller in 2017. Testimony showed that after the victims moved in, Miller used threats, manipulation, and physical violence to force them into acts of prostitution in the Madison area. Miller forced the victims to do up to 10 dates a day and if they refused to engage in prostitution for him, he physically assaulted them and/or withheld heroin from them until they were in physical withdrawal from the drug. Miller also threatened to call law enforcement on the victims if they did not do as he demanded.
The jury also found that Miller maintained a place in Madison during the same time-period for the purpose of distributing and using heroin and cocaine.
In imposing the sentence, Judge William Conley highlighted that, in addition to the physical and verbal abuse to which Miller subjected these two victims, he had an “enduring pattern of refusing to obey the law and of engaging in violence against the community." The Court noted Miller’s past convictions for child abuse, domestic violence-related conduct, and drug-related activity.
U.S. Attorney Blader said, “Human traffickers use violence and coercion to degrade and exploit victims for profit during the most vulnerable points of their lives. Traffickers like Miller sacrifice the health and wellbeing of their victims without regard for basic human decency. My office is committed to vigorously investigating and prosecuting these cases."
The charges against Miller were the result of an investigation by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Madison Police Department, Dane County Narcotics Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Pfluger and Diane Schlipper.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
