Dad Groomed Teen Sons To Be Pimps: Feds

CHICAGO, IL — A Chicago father and his twin sons, who were convicted on human trafficking charges in Illinois, have now been sentenced in a separate federal sex trafficking case.

Father Nathan Nicholson, 45, who "groomed his sons to become pimps" and was previously convicted of promoting prostitution, pleaded guilty last year to one count of sex trafficking of a minor, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Now 24 years old, sons Tyrelle and Myrelle Lockett of Chicago Heights each pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in prostitution.

Federal authorities said the trio recruited girls from Chicago-area shopping malls by promising them money to go on dates. "Once the girls expressed interest, Nicholson brought them to an abandoned house, photographed them partially clothed, and then 'tested' them by requiring them to have sex with the twins," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Then they had the girls perform sex acts for money, with Nicholson keeping the proceeds.

Four victims testified during the trio's sentencing hearings, describing their ordeals and how the father and sons coerced them into prostitution.

Nicholson was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years and eight months in federal prison and ordered to pay $68,400 to two victims.

On Wednesday, Tyrelle Lockett was sentenced to 17 years and eight months and ordered to pay $9,050 to three victims. Myrelle Lockett was sentenced a day later to 17 years and eight months and ordered to pay $75,600 to one victim.

The investigation began in May 2010 when Tyrelle Lockett was arrested outside a south suburban hotel where officers were conducting an undercover operation in which they answered online ads from women who appeared to be selling sex for money. Cook County investigators discovered that the brothers, just 17 at the time, had trafficked multiple girls.

In 2011, the brothers were the first to be convicted under the Illinois Human Trafficking/Involuntary servitude statute and sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In December 2012, dad Nathan Nicholson was charged with promoting prostitution following another undercover operation in which deputies answered online ads. Members of the Cook County Sheriff's Police Vice Unit spotted Nicholson waiting in a car outside the hotel where officers met a woman after answering her ad. Police said Nicholson had placed the ad for her.

Nicholson was convicted and sentenced to probation in October 2013.

Those convictions didn't deter the father and sons from continuing to recruit women and girls for the purpose of selling their bodies, police said. Cook County deputies and the FBI learned that the trio was bringing in women and girls from out of state to the Chicago area for sex trafficking. A joint investigation by the sheriff's department and FBI led to the federal indictments against Nicholson and the Locketts.

Top photo: Nathan Nicholson/Cook County Sheriff's Office