Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Prison ordered for two who offered girl for sadomasochistic sex

Dear Friends:

This case provides a horrifying illustration of child sexual abuse. According to other news reports, this child's mother is the first person in the U.S. to be charged with federal trafficking in a case involving her own child. Thankfully, the girl's mother and other abuser are going to jail. I wish the same could be said of all the people who paid to rape the little girl.

Abolition!

Lisa

Prison ordered for two who offered girl for sadomasochistic sex
By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star

They made her a dominatrix and schooled her in the ways of violent sex when she was only 12.

By the time she reached 14, they had billed her as “Mistress Alisha,” and they offered her online for two years to service the sadomasochistic fantasies of anyone willing to pay.

But on Thursday, it was the turn of the girl’s mother and the man she formerly lived with in Blue Springs to pay for the years of victimization they forced the girl to endure so they could make money.

Todd Barkau, the man who trained, groomed and offered her to others, and the girl’s mother, who is not being named to protect her daughter’s identity, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to the commercial sex trafficking of a minor.

Barkau, 37, will serve 25 years in prison as part of the plea agreement with prosecutors. The girl’s 45-year-old mother will spend 15 years in prison. Prosecutors said she was the first person in the country to be charged under the federal trafficking law in a case involving her own child.

Both also were ordered to forfeit the $80,000 they collected from the girl’s customers.

Their victim, now 22, attended the hearing to witness the pleas.

U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughery said she would not accept the plea agreements without the young woman’s consent. The victim told the judge that the proposed sentences were satisfactory.

“I would prefer not to have to go through it all again by going through a trial,” she said.

Her ordeal began in 2000 when Barkau, with the girl’s mother’s knowledge, taught the girl to engage in sexual bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism both with him and others while he watched, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Cordes said in outlining evidence the government would have presented at trial.

Barkau set up the Mistress Alisha Web site when the girl was 14. The girl’s mother suggested the name Alisha, which she had used while working as a stripper, according to Cordes.

Prosecutors agreed to the 15- and 25-year sentences after consulting with the victim, Cordes said. And in Barkau’s case, she said, his history of heart attacks and strokes was considered in not seeking a longer sentence.

“We hope this sentence of 25 years serves as a life sentence for him,” she said.

To reach Tony Rizzo, call 816-234-4435 or send e-mail to
trizzo@kcstar.com.

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