A Chicago man faces a federal sex trafficking charge in the case of a year-old girl found slain in a Markham garage last Christmas Eve. Joseph Hazley, 33, was arrested early Wednesday morning and charged with one count of sex trafficking of a minor, FBI spokesman Garrett Croon said. According to a federal criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Hazley trafficked the teen, identified in court documents as Minor A, throughout December , arranging multiple dates for commercial sex each day through the classified website Backpage.
Hazley allegedly posted ads for Robinson on Backpage. On the morning of her death, Hazley and an unnamed female dropped off Robinson at a home in Markham to meet with a sex buyer, according to the complaint. The pair fell asleep in Hazley's vehicle while waiting for Robinson to return from her sexual encounter with a man, and awoke about two hours later with Robinson nowhere to be found. Hazley then went looking for Robinson, and found her badly beaten body on the ground inside the garage, the complaint states.
Hazley told responding officers that he had brought Robinson to the location to work as a dancer at a party and identified the sex buyer for police, but was not arrested and charged at the time. The alleged sex buyer, identified as year-old Antonio Rosales, of Chicago, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Robinson's death.
We are grateful to the FBI and cannot thank them enough for their honorable efforts on behalf of Desiree. To build its case against Hazley, the FBI reviewed text messages, telephone records and Facebook records; performed cell site analysis; and conducted interviews with Robinson's alleged customers and another woman who Hazley was allegedly pimping simultaneously, identified as Individual B in the federal complaint.
Individual B, 19, began working as a prostitute for Hazley in August , after being introduced to him by a girlfriend and moving into his home, the complaint states. She told investigators that he instructed her how to word commercial sex advertisements on Backpage. Hazley also provided the woman clothing to wear on her "dates," set the rates she should charge for sex and drove her to all of her dates, waiting outside during her encounters to act as security, the complaint states.
