CHICAGO — A Chicago man will spend four decades in prison for sex trafficking at least seven minors.
Lennie Perry, a 49-year-old man who was convicted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2021, was handed a 40-year prison sentence on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois.
Prosecutors said Perry recruited at least seven victims, one of whom was under the age of 14, to engage in commercial sex acts in hotels and homes in Illinois, Minnesota, and Mississippi.
Perry used a social media website and a classified advertising website to recruit his victims and advertise the commercial sex acts, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Perry also required his victims to have sex with him before trafficking them.
“Defendant’s actions have created a trauma for the victims that is impossible to truly understand,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Mulaney said during the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Traffickers operating today should receive the message that if you traffic children in the Chicagoland area, you will receive the fullest punishment prescribed by law.”
Perry was brought to justice thanks to the FBI Chicago Child Exploitation Task Force, which investigated the case with help from the Chicago Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.
In addition to the decades-long prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang ordered that Perry pay $523,600 in restitution to his victims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois urges anyone who may be a victim of sexual exploitation or worries that others may be victims, to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to www.missingkids.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.