Boise man sentenced to 6 years, probation for prostitution and money laundering

A Boise man was sentenced by a federal judge on Tuesday to more than six years in prison followed by five years of probation for trafficking two women out of state for prostitution and laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments for illegal sex acts.

Dannie Carr, 37, spent two years as the manager of a business involved in transporting the women to seven states, but primarily between Idaho and Washington, to provide sexual services, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho. The two women were forced to participate in prostitution by physical force and threat of violence, the release said.

Between January 2019 and May 2021, nearly 500 hotel rooms were booked where the female victims would meet customers recruited by Carr after he placed online advertisements. Payments were also made online, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the release, and Carr then laundered as much as $550,000 in payments, including by buying jewelry. Carr did not file tax returns from 2018 to 2020 and did not report income from the illegal business to the IRS, the release said.

Carr pleaded guilty to the charges in February and faced a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, a minimum of five years probation and a fine up to twice the amount tied to the offense. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye issued Carr’s 77-month prison sentence plus probation, and Carr also was ordered to surrender all jewelry bought with the prostitution payments.

“Human trafficking is a real and growing threat across the Pacific Northwest,” Robert Hammer, a special agent who oversees Homeland Security Investigations in the Pacific Northwest, said in the release. “Those engaged in this type of crime will find the same fate as Mr. Carr.”

The prosecution involved eight other agencies, including the IRS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Idaho State Police, Ada County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking.

“We are proud of the partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement that led to this important prosecution,” said U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr., of the District of Idaho, in the release.