First of human traffickers sentenced to 24 years

A 36-year-old Minneapolis man on Monday became the first in what the U.S. attorney in Minnesota promises will be a long line of human traffickers to be sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Daniel McNeal, who has a history of sex trafficking and violent crimes, was charged in December 2006 with recruiting a 16-year-old Rogers girl into a life of prostitution and stripping jobs. On Monday, U.S. District Judge David Doty ordered McNeal to spend more than 24 years in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime on supervised release.

That made McNeal the first casualty in U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose's year-old initiative to crack down on human trafficking. Lining up behind him are 32 defendants in four other cases.

The latest case involves two persons who were charged last week with running a marriage fraud ring to help Chinese nationals enter the United States illegally. And more cases are in the pipeline.

"We have a number of open investigations, which I'm not permitted to discuss," Paulose said. "I can't even discuss the number, unfortunately."

The fight against human-trafficking crimes became an early hallmark in the administration of President Bush. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act was enacted in October 2000 to ensure the punishment of traffickers and the protection of their victims. And the FBI identified the Twin Cities several years ago as having a particular problem with human trafficking.

Until 2006, zero cases

But until Paulose became U.S. attorney in March 2006, there had been little evidence of the crime in Minnesota's federal courtrooms.

"We had zero cases at the time that I walked in the door," she said in a recent interview. "One of the things that I did when I walked in was to implement the national priority of human trafficking in this district.

"In my viewpoint, what we're talking about here is ensuring liberty for all people," Paulose said. "We have evidence that these people are being used in both labor and sexual trafficking. We've got issues with people being used in agricultural settings. We've got issues with people being used with mail-order brides, particularly from East Asia. And we've got people who have been used as -- prostitutes is a generous word. They're basically sex slaves."

McNeal, a man with a history of sex trafficking and violent crimes, was charged in December in the case involving the Rogers girl. He pleaded guilty May 1 to sex trafficking of a minor and one count of coercion and enticement to travel.

Defendant asked for mercy

McNeal asked for mercy at his sentencing Monday. His lawyer said McNeal had been raised in a bordello and abused sexually and physically since he was a boy. McNeal denied ever forcing the teen or his other alleged victims to become prostitutes.

But McNeal's ex-wife and the mother of his 6-year-old daughter called him a liar and begged the court to ignore his pleas. She said she fears for her life when he's released from prison.

"He beat that girl senseless like he beat me," the woman said. Holding up her left hand clutched loosely in a fist, she said McNeal beat her with a truck windshield wiper, severing a tendon and permanently damaging her hand.

"He raped me. He beat me. He cut me. He cut off all my hair," the woman said between sobs. "He never said, in seven years, that he was sorry."

Doty rejected McNeal's request for leniency and sentenced him to 293 months in prison, citing the age of his victim and the "grave public interest in ceasing human trafficking."

Paulose said on Monday that she appreciated Doty's comments. "I think his sentence, which is a remarkable sentence in federal court, is a recognition of the seriousness of the crime and the human impact that this has on real people."

In a recent report to the Minnesota Legislature, Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion noted that human trafficking by its nature is a hidden crime. "It is our belief that as awareness of this issue grows, so too will the number of victims identified and in need of services," he said.

Thus far, the human trafficking cases charged since McNeal's indictment include 25 people accused of running brothels that were staffed largely with immigrant women who were allegedly held as sex slaves; an Eagan woman who pleaded guilty to running a teen-prostitution ring that advertised on Craigslist.org; three men who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of minor girls, and two men charged with marriage fraud conspiracy to help smuggle Chinese nationals into America.

Some people argue that some of these crimes would ordinarily have been charged as prostitution cases in the past. But Paulose said such cases go beyond prostitution. Each involves the use of force, fraud and/or coercion, she said.

Congress acted in 2000

When Congress revised the human-trafficking laws in 2000 it eliminated the requirement that interstate travel take place as a basis for federal jurisdiction, Paulose said. It also expanded the definition of the crime to recognize that psychological terror can be an effective means of holding a person in bondage, she added.

Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez cited the McNeal case in a speech last summer "as being sort of a national success story," and he praised the cooperative approach that led to McNeal's indictment, Paulose said.

She said Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald, who prosecuted McNeal, deserves special praise for mobilizing "the people on the ground" to focus on human trafficking cases. She works closely with federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as service providers, to develop cases.

Focus on Duluth

Paulose is supporting the creation of two proposed task forces in the Duluth area. One, called the Twin Ports Human Trafficking Task Force, would be run by the Duluth police, she said. The other, called the Twin Ports Human Trafficking Watch, would be run by Civil Society, a victims'-services organization.

Paulose cited her own background as the daughter of immigrants from India as one of the reasons she is so passionate about the issue of human trafficking. "The greatness of a country that has called people to freedom cannot be compromised by tolerating slavery," she said.

"And this challenge of human trafficking really strikes at the heart of our freedom, which is one of the reasons why I think it's resounded so powerfully with the community and with law enforcement agencies and with the prosecutors who are involved in fighting this battle every day on the line."

Dan Browning • 612-673-4493

Dan Browning • dbrowning@startribune.com