LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An Illinois man was sentenced to prison in the Indiana Department of Corrections on Friday after he was arrested, tried and convicted of child sex trafficking and promoting prostitution in Lafayette.
Court documents say James Williams, of Decatur, Illinois, was arrested in October 2020 after a 16-year-old girl told Lafayette police outside a Lafayette motel off State Road 26, near Interstate 65, that Williams was serving as "her pimp." The LPD officers then found and arrested Williams in a room inside the Motel 6 on Frontage Road.
Cellphone evidence recovered by police investigators showed that between March 2020 and Oct. 13, 2020, Williams texted advertisements and photographs of the girl to numerous phone numbers, along with rates and locations to arrange for meetings where the girl would engage in sexual intercourse in return for money.
The encounters would take place throughout Indiana and Illinois, she said.
Williams, who is 35 years old, was convicted on two felony counts after a bench trial in Tippecanoe County in March. He was sentenced to serve nine years in prison and three additional years on probation.
According to Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington, the girl told the court that "everything changed for the better after she spoke to these officers," and that her cooperation led to Williams' convictions.
