Brown Deer man accused of prostituting 3 minors

A Brown Deer man was charged in federal court Friday with prostituting three minors between 2006 and 2008.

Tyrone McMillian, 29, who is also known as "HK," made an initial appearance in court Friday. He faces three separate counts of sex trafficking of a child.

"The nature of the crime, sex trafficking of a child, is extremely serious," said prosecutor Joseph R. Wall, who recommended that McMillian be detained because he believes McMillian is a danger to the community.

McMillian's attorney, Bridget Boyle, said detention was unnecessary because McMillian's ties to the community negated the concerns for a flight risk and asked the judge to consider some sort of release.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Callahan agreed with the government and ordered that McMillian be held pending trial.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30.

Under a search warrant executed at McMillian's residence in July, authorities seized more than $94,000 in cash, a bank statement showing an account under his name for more than $99,000, jewelry worth more than $160,000, and a Bentley and a Mercedes-Benz automobile titled in the names of other people, according to the complaint. Firearms were also found in the residence of McMillian, who is a felon.

According to the criminal complaint:

The first of the victims, who was 16 at the time, met McMillian in November 2006. He told her that he was a pimp and wanted her to work as a prostitute for him, something she began in late December 2006, using the name "CoCo." At that point, McMillian believed she was 23, the complaint says.

Throughout her time working for him, she gave him all the money she earned from prostituting, which she did about 80 times until just after Jan. 1, 2007. She told investigators that McMillian became angry when he found out she was 16, but she continued to work for him about two more weeks before McMillian gave her to another pimp, "King Tut" or Todd Carter, for whom she prostituted. Carter was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2010 after he admitted selling a half-dozen minors in Wisconsin and other states, according to a 2010 Journal Sentinel article. He was the first to be sentenced in Wisconsin under a federal law against sex trafficking of a child.

The second teenage girl met McMillian in 2007, according to the complaint. She was 17 at the time, which the complaint alleges McMillian knew. She went on two dates for McMillian between June and July 2007 - one that turned out to be fake, and on the second date she was arrested by a police officer. Before she prostituted for McMillian, he encouraged her to work as a stripper, and she gave him some of the money she received from that.

The third minor began working for Carter in April 2008 until she was evicted from his apartment in July. She moved in with McMillian and told him that she was 17. She prostituted for him for approximately one week, according to the complaint.

McMillian used Craigslist, exotic dancing venues in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and private parties as a means to set up "dates" for prostitutes. He also gave instructions on how to be a prostitute to the victims and provided condoms for the dates.