Minnesota Man Gets 2 Years For 'Pimping' Wife
A Minnesota man who forced his wife to work as a prostitute in several states, including Illinois, will spend two years in prison after pleaded guilty to pandering on Monday.
Clinton Danner, 32, of Rockford, Minn., was charged April 7 with one felony count of pandering, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison, Conklin said. Judge Stanley Sacks also granted a two-year order of protection for the victim which will begin when Danner is released from prison.
Danner, accused of forcing his wife to have sex with strangers, was arrested Feb. 14 by Cook County Sheriff's police as he arrived to pick her from a downtown Holiday Inn, where he had made her stay the weekend, prosecutors said during bond proceedings.
Though he'd planned for her to fly home on Feb. 15, he called to tell her he was disappointed at how little money she'd made over the weekend and was personally driving to Chicago to confront her, authorities said.
Seeking help, his wife secretly called the Polaris national sex trafficking hotline, leading to Danner's arrest, Asst. State's Atty. Erin Antonietti told Judge Donald Panarese at his bond hearing.
Danner had pimped his wife out since she became pregnant four years ago, Antonietti said. He initially forced her to have sex with strangers in Minnesota, but over the last six months had "branched out" to New York, Georgia, Washington and Illinois, she said.
He'd often travel with her and their 3-year-old daughter, living out of a van while she was forced to prostitute herself, Antonietti added. The wife had no credit card or bank account access, allowing Danner to control her.
Danner met his wife five years ago when she was 17 and he was a 27-year-old church youth counselor, Antonietti said. By then, he already had a string of felony convictions, including burglary, lottery fraud and drugs, she said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
