25 years in prison for St. Paul man who sold teen girls for sex on backpage.com

A 26-year-old St. Paul man will be nearly twice as old by the time he's scheduled to leave prison for advertising teenage girls on the Internet and selling them for sex.

Dontre D'Sean McHenry was sentenced last week in federal court in Minneapolis to almost 25 years in prison for recruiting and trafficking three girls for sex in various Minnesota cities. After leaving prison, McHenry will be subject to supervised release until his death.

"Human traffickers don't care whom they victimize, as long as they can profit from it," said William Lowder, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security in St. Paul.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Provinzino, who is in charge of human trafficking prosecutions, said McHenry "was held accountable for recruiting and trafficking the most vulnerable girls in our state — runaways, recent immigrants and girls in foster care."

According to the defendant's guilty plea in October 2014 and court documents:

McHenry recruited at least three girls under age 18 and prostituted them for his own financial benefit. He advertised the girls on backpage.com and in chat rooms, and he made a sexually explicit video of himself having sex with a 15-year-old runaway from Rochester. He sent that video to potential clients.

He directed the victims about how to talk to men on chat lines, what to charge for various sex acts and how to set up "dates." The girls followed orders and gave to McHenry all of the money they were paid for sex.

In March 2014, a police search of a motel room in Roseville turned up handwritten notes and a book entitled "Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game."

McHenry was arrested at the motel with a 17-year-old girl who admitted being in a Backpage ad. Investigators later learned that McHenry also had prostituted a 15-year-old girl and 16-year-old girl.

The handwritten notes included references to trafficking and prostitution, as well as 13 questions, including "Are u homeless? Tired of your mom/dad getting on ur nerves? Wanna move out?"

Numerous text message conversations from customers arranging to meet with victims to purchase sex were found on the cellphones used by the defendant and the girls.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482