Chicago-area sex trafficker gets life

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CHICAGO, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Former suburban Chicago massage parlor owner Alex Campbell was sentenced Monday to life in federal prison without parole for sex trafficking and related crimes.

In addition to his prison term, Campbell, who operated the Day and Night Spa in Mount Prospect, was ordered to pay about $124,000 in restitution, the U.S. Justice Department said in a release.

"They [the victims] have a life sentence -- all of them ... and their life sentence at your hands compels a life sentence for you," U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman told Campbell.

The 47-year-old former Glenview man was convicted in January of using violence and threats of violence to force three women from Ukraine and one from Belarus to work for him without pay and, at times, little to no subsistence between July 2008 and January 2010. Authorities alleged he victimized about 20 women, all from other countries who had no legal status in the United States.

He was found guilty of three counts each of forced labor, harboring illegal aliens for financial gain, and confiscating passports and other immigration documents to force the victims to work, and one count each of sex trafficking by force, and extortion.

A co-defendant, Danielle John, 25, pleaded guilty before trial to two counts of harboring illegal aliens for financial gain. She was sentenced previously to three years probation.