A Wisconsin man has been convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with child trafficking. According to WQOW.com, William Hargrove has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexual assault of a 15 year old girl. The sentence was given on the 20th of May 2020.
The case centers around the trafficking, sexual assault, and exploitation of a 15 year old girl in June of 2019. The unnamed girl stated that Richard Bye sexually assaulted her and then told her she was going to have sex with another man for $8 dollars and a bag of meth. William Hargrove, the other man in question, initially denied having had sexual contact with the 15 year old girl. A SANE exam proved that there was DNA evidence that tied Hargrove to the sexual exploitation of the 15 year old.
A SANE exam is defined as a “Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner”. These exams check the mental health, medical condition, and search for forensic evidence in the case of sexual assaults. In this Eau Claire county criminal case the SANE exam provided sufficient evidence to prosecute and ultimately convict William Hargrove to 10 years in prison.
William Hargove in this case was convicted of soliciting a child and sexual assault. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his crimes. He represents the demand in child trafficking as someone is willing to pay for sex with children. The fight against child trafficking starts with changing the way people think and preventing this type of predatory behavior.
Richard Bye in this case has been indicted of counts including child trafficking and child sex abuse. He is yet to stand trial or be sentenced in this case for the 7 felony counts. Reports by the news outlets in Wisconsin are unclear about the relationship between Bye and this 15 year old girl. If found guilty and convicted, Bye would represent not only a sexual predator but also a child trafficker. His alleged actions of not only abusing the girl but then trying to get her to take drugs in exchange for sex is an all too common tactic. It is a tactic that enslaves girls to prostitution. Not only do the acts of sex abuse diminish the victim’s sense of self worth, but adding addictive substances creates a dependency that is hard to break.