COOK COUNTY, IL – A 24-year-old Chicago man is charged with promoting prostitution and promoting prostitution for profit after investigators revealed he posted online sex advertisements of a 19-year-old woman and forced her into having sex in exchange for money, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
Investigators with the Sheriff’s Police Special Victim’s Vice Unit were initially alerted on March 14 by the Department of Children and Family Services about the offender, Erick Johnson, of the 1700 block of 80th Street. During their investigation, Vice unit investigators learned that Johnson posted the online ads of the victim, arranged the encounters, and forced the victim to have sex for money.
Johnson was taken into custody on March 15 and transported to Sheriff’s Police Headquarters in Maywood. He was on federal probation for a 2020 unlawful transportation of firearms conviction.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved Class 4 felony charges for promoting prostitution and promoting prostitution for profit. He appeared today in the Leighton Criminal Courthouse where he received an $80,000 D bond with electronic monitoring.
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.
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