Witnesses Take Stand in Prostitution Trial

The trial of two Lake in the Hills women accused in a prostitution scheme opened Tuesday with prosecutors describing the alleged victim as a troubled teen, and defense attorneys painting a picture of a young girl “worldly beyond her years.”

Sitting at the same table in Judge Joseph Condon’s McHenry County courtroom, Antwanette Atkins and Kari Knox, both accused of enticing a 14-year-old Kansas girl into engaging in commercial sexual activity, listened as opening statements were read and the first day of testimony was given in the case against them.

The two women face seven charges of child pornography and charges of juvenile pimping and juvenile servitude.

The alleged activity occurred while Atkins and Knox were living with Donald Jones in his Lake in the Hills home in December 2009.

Jones allegedly met the Wichita, Kansas, teen online and drove to pick her up, bringing her back to Lake in the Hills. According to opening statements by prosecutors, the women played an integral part in exploiting the teen on the Internet, where she met men and prostituted herself to make money for Jones.

On Dec. 31, 2009, the juvenile had sex with two men and “she received money for it,” Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Blackney told the jury.

“She was 14 years old. She had a rough life. The first 14 years of her life were not easy,” he said. 

With only alias names to go by, police were able to identify Atkins, alias Peaches, and Knox, alias Slim, through a website they used to solicit prostitution. The prosecution said the women gave the alleged victim the name Crystal for use on the Internet and solicited her as a 23-year-old.

“She believed they knew her true age,” Blackney told the jury of the alleged victim. “She was taught to turn tricks and she was put on call. They were all involved — they were all responsible. We have a word for this in Illinois, when people do what these two did, and that word is crime.”

Defense attorney Kim Messer, representing Atkins, opened by saying “I’m uncertain where all this evidence today is going to lead,” calling the investigation into the alleged offense “remarkably incomplete.”

“She is not a sex trafficker, she is not a child pornographer and she is not a pimp,” Messer said of Atkins.

“She is a woman that is wise and worldly and beyond her years,” attorney Bill Bligh, representing Knox, said about the alleged teen victim. “Kari did not know how old (the girl) was.”

And when his client learned her true age, Knox bought the teen a Greyhound bus ticket back to Kansas, he said.

“Once you’ve heard all of the evidence, we are confident you will return a verdict of not guilty,” Bligh said.

 involved in the initial investigation were questioned on the stand Tuesday, with Officer Matthew Mannino stating the girl had a “youthful appearance” to him when he interviewed her after traveling to Wichita to work with police there.

Testimony in the case will continue Wednesday morning. Jones was tried separately on the charges against him.