South Dakota Case could change some sex trafficking statutes

By John Hult Argus Leader SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The failure of federal prosecutors in South Dakota to successfully charge three men accused of trying to buy sex from minors with commercial sex trafficking has set up a court battle. The outcome could limit or expand the potential punishment for johns in underage prostitution cases. If U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson's deputies are successful in an upcoming appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, anyone who tries to buy sex from underage girls over the Internet could be punished in the same manner as those who force underage girls into prostitution. Early last year, Daron Jungers, Ron Bonestroo and Jeffrey Krogman each answered ads posted on a website offering sex with minors for money. They did not know the ads had been placed by undercover detectives. When the men arrived to meet the girls for sex, they met detectives instead and were arrested. Bonestroo and Jungers were convicted by separate juries of attempted commercial sex trafficking of a child, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 15 years. The federal prison system does not allow for parole. The convictions for Bonestroo and Jungers did not stand. Two U.S. district judges in Sioux Falls, Karen Schreier and Lawrence Piersol, overturned the convictions after defense lawyers for the two men argued that commercial sex trafficking statutes are designed to ensnare those who manipulate and threaten others into selling sex, not to punish those who buy it. The judges agreed. Jungers' conviction was overturned in December. Bonestroo's was overturned Jan. 4. "(The law) describes a method of gaining control over the child victim or is a step in preparation for the end goal that the children 'will be caused' to engage in commercial sex acts," Judge Schreier wrote in the Bonestroo ruling. "The trafficking process described in this list stops short of the john; therefore, it does not reach Bonestroo." Prosecutors have filed their notice of intent to appeal in the Jungers case. No such motion has been made in the Bonestroo case. On Jan. 10, the same day Bonestroo's acquittal was signed, prosecutors offered a deal to Krogman that allowed him to plead guilty to a lesser charge of engaging in illegal interstate commerce. Mike Butler, the lawyer who defended Jungers, said the issue is whether someone who buys a product ought to be punished in the same manner as someone who sells a product. "No one is saying that buying is legal," Butler said. "But even if what the government is saying is true, it doesn't amount to sex trafficking." There is little precedent for charging johns with sex trafficking, according to Renewal Forum President Steven Wagner. His organization focuses specifically on underage sex slavery in the United States. To date, no appeals court ruling exists on cases where johns are charged with commercial sex trafficking of a child. U.S. attorneys in Missouri have prosecuted and obtained guilty pleas for commercial sex trafficking from several johns. Published: Wed, Jan 25, 2012