Overview
- U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland imposed the 28-year sentence on Feb. 4 following a 2025 jury conviction on seven counts of sex trafficking and kidnapping.
- Prosecutors said Dennis Williams used threats, violence and drugs to force victims into commercial sex and to maintain control.
- The five victims included a 15-year-old, and a 17-year-old was repeatedly assaulted and compelled to help traffic others, according to court records.
- One victim escaped by jumping from a moving truck in August 2022, and another fled from a second-floor window to a public library in January 2023.
- Williams ran the operation from his Chicago residence and motels in Lansing during 2022–2023, and he remains at the Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting prison placement.