Milwaukee Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man known as "Bin Laden" has been sentenced to decades in federal prison for sex trafficking crimes that spanned multiple states for more than 15 years.
A jury found 53-year-old Samuel Spencer guilty in January of four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. The trial lasted two weeks.
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The U.S. Attorney's Office said evidence at trial proved Spencer was a drug dealer who used his access to cocaine and heroin to coerce women who struggled with addiction to engage in commercial sex acts to make money for him.
Prosecutors said Spencer would give or withhold drugs, deprive victims of sleep and food, threaten them with guns and use "extreme physical violence" – which included strangling, whipping and burning them. He kidnapped one woman after she tried to flee.
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Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper said Spencer's conduct was "almost impossible to get your brain around" and described the violence as "some of the worst the court has ever seen."
Officials said Spencer used the alias "Bin Laden." He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.