TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. – An Illinois man created ads and a price list so he could offer up a teenage girl for sex, prosecutors say.
A judge sentenced James Jamison Williams to 9 years in the Indiana Department of Correction along with 3 years of probation. Williams, 35, had been previously convicted of promotion of sexual trafficking and promotion of prostitution during a March 2022 bench trial.
The investigation dates back to October 2020, when an officer in Lafayette spotted a teen sitting in an idling vehicle in the parking lot of the Days Inn on Frontage Road.
The girl, who was 16, initially told police she was with a friend who’d rented a room but later admitted she’d used a fake ID to rent it herself. She said she was with Williams; she described him as her “pimp.”
Williams, listed on the girl’s contact list as “James,” repeatedly called the teen’s phone while she was speaking with officers, according to court documents.
During a later interview with police, the teen told investigators Williams “enticed” her to engage in prostitution with the promise of making money. Williams used a cell phone app called “TextNow” to arrange meetings for the girl in exchange for money, she said.
The girl said Williams took photos of her and posted advertisements for “paid sexual intercourse.” He then set prices and arranged meetings with people who responded to the ads, according to court documents.
The teen told investigators Williams had taken her to “many locations” in Indiana and Illinois between March 2020 and October 2020 for the express purpose of selling her for sex. He arranged several meetings a week in which the teen engaged in sexual intercourse, sometimes multiple times in a day.
When police talked to Williams, he told them he knew the teen but wasn’t involved in prostitution.
However, police found numerous TextNow messages on Williams’ two cell phones, along with advertisements, pricing and locations as described by the teen.
The Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office described the teen as a “strong and brave person” whose information and cooperation allowed them to arrest, charge and ultimately convict Williams.
