Michigan Man, Woman Each Get 35 Years In Prison For Child Sex Trafficking

     Sheriff Chris Swanson is running the largest state-level effort to combat human trafficking in the history of the United States. There have been other large efforts, including by groups of authorities working in the Central Valley of California, in Kentucky, and in Central Florida as we speak as well as past efforts by then-Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo as well as Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. Cox's effort led to the arrests of over 200 men for soliciting sex from children online over the course of a number of years.

    Over the course of the last 30 months, Swanson's GHOST team (Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team) in Flint, Michigan, has arrested 140 people for human trafficking, putting him on track to far surpass the record Cox had set in the same state. Chris Swanson started the team in Genesee County with the goal of spreading it statewide. He has succeeded, expanding to include stings in the Upper Peninsula as well as neighboring Shiawassee County. Swanson, aside from dispelling the myth that caring about human trafficking and sex crimes is a political matter instead of a human one, has also dispelled another common myth: that people caught in these stings are people who never have and never would victimize real kids and are somehow "tricked" into doing so.

     Enter Michael J. Foster and Jennifer Beckman. Arrested in the inaugural sting in summer 2019 and held without bond, Beckman trafficked her six-year-old daughter for sex with Foster in a series of gross messages in which Foster admitted to having sex with minors before and shared child pornography and in which Beckman admitted she had been trafficking said daughter for an extended period of time. The duo, 33 and 37 respectively at the time of their arrests, were defended vigorously by Jodi Hemingway and Michael Ewing, the latter of whom said that his client, the human trafficker, was "accused of things he knew he didn't do" and was "scared." Well, today, in exchange for having the possibility of a life sentence for a human trafficking charge dropped, Beckman and Foster each pleaded guilty to child sexually abusive activity, first-degree criminal sexual conduct during a felony, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct and were each sentenced to serve 10 to 15 years, 10 to 20 years, and 13.5 to 35 years for each crime. 

     While the sentences run concurrently, it is effectively a 35-year sentence. Because of the nature of the crime, the fact that they already dodged life imprisonment, and the fact that they have three sentences going on at the same time, I would argue it would not be appropriate to consider letting either out on parole until after they have served at least 60 percent (21 years) of their sentences. They have been given credit for two years rotting behind bars and must also register as Tier III sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

     Most importantly, the young daughter, who is now eight years old and must still deal with this for the rest of her life, is in a home where she will be safe from these monsters forever and have her best shot at shaking whatever hold they have (or, in Foster's case, would have had) on her.