Former LITH Women Get 7 Years in Teen Prostitution Case

A McHenry County judge considered the criminal background of two former Lake in the Hills women when sentencing them Tuesday to serve seven years in prison for their part in luring a 14-year-old Kansas girl into commercial sexual activity.

Judge Joseph P. Condon sentenced Antwanette R. Atkins, 44, and Kari D. Knox, 37, to serve seven years in an Illinois Department of Corrections prison. The women were each convicted on a involuntary servitude of a minor charge in August. Both were found not guilty on juvenile pimping charges.

“I do consider the history of each of these defendants,” Condon said during the sentencing hearing Tuesday where both women waived their right to speak. “I’ve also considered it’s necessary to deter others from entering into a lifetime of crime.”

Both Atkins and Knox had extensive criminal histories for prostitution, prosecutors said. Atkins has been convicted of crimes more than 200 times, mostly for prostitution, but also for substance abuse, possession of cocaine and drinking, Assistant McHenry County State’s Attorney Sharyl Eisentein said.

Knox worked for 12 years as a prostitute prior to her arrest in connection with this case in January 2010. Prior, her most recent arrest was in Cook County for prostitution, Eisenstein said.

Eisenstein said the women were grooming the 14-year-old to follow in their own footsteps.

“They introduced this girl to the world of prostitution, and exposed her to sexually transmitted diseases based on the sexual acts involved,” Eisenstein said.

Under Illinois law, the women faced between six to 30 years in jail.

In sentencing the pair, Condon gave the women credit for time already served. Atkins was taken into custody in January 2010, and Knox was arrested shortly after. With good behavior the two could be released in as soon as 20 months, attorneys said.

Prior to the sentencing, public defender Kim Messer, Atkins’ attorney, had filed a motion asking the judge to hold a new trial. Messer argued the women did not know the girl was 14 years old when she was brought to the Lake in the Hills home at 3593 Sonoma Circle, which they shared with Donald R. Jones in December 2009.

During the trial, defense attorneys described the victim as a hustler, worldly and beyond her years.

Knox’s attorney, William Bligh, provided the court with text messages sent by the Kansas teen during her bus ride home from Chicago to Kansas. Reading through the messages, there was “no indication that the previous 24 hours had an impact on (the girl),” Bligh argued.

The Kansas girl originally found her way to Illinois after meeting Jones, 54, on the Internet. Jones allegedly drove to Wichita, Kansas, to bring the teen to Illinois for the purpose of prostituting her.

When in the Lake in the Hills home, the trio allegedly dressed the girl in provocative clothing, gave her the alias “Crystal,” and had her pose for pictures that were placed on a website that solicits prostitution. The advertisement billed her as a 23-year-old woman.

Jones currently is being tried separately from Atkins and Knox. He is charged with involuntary servitude of a minor, pimping and six counts of child pornography. He is scheduled to appear in McHenry County Court at 9 a.m. Dec. 21 for a status hearing.