Former Blue Springs man sentenced in child sex trafficking case

A former Blue Springs man has been sentenced for sex trafficking a child, grooming her to become a sexual dominatrix called “Mistress Alisha.”

Todd B. Barkau, 38, of New York, formerly of Blue Springs, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey to 25 years in federal prison without parole. Following his prison term, Barkau will spend the rest of his life on supervised release. The court also ordered Barkau to pay $200,000 in restitution to the victim for future counseling costs.

In September 2009, Barkau and a co-defendant, a 46-year-old woman formerly of Blue Springs, each pleaded guilty.

Barkau’s co-defendant is not being identified to protect the identity of her daughter who is the victim. She was sentenced in May to 15 years in federal prison without parole. She is also liable to pay $200,000 in restitution to the victim.

When this case was originally charged in May 2008, it was the first time in the United States that the parent had been charged with commercial sex trafficking of her own child under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

In 2000, Barkau, with the assistance of the victim’s mother, obtained control of the girl, who was 12 years old at the time. With her mother’s knowledge and consent, Barkau sexually groomed and trained the child to become a bondage-domination-sadism-masochism sexual dominatrix. He did so by engaging in BDSM activities with the child himself, forcing her to engage in sexual activities with other men while he watched and using BDSM pornography over the Internet to teach her techniques and skills to use as a dominatrix.

Barkau resided in the same home as the child and her mother, who allowed Barkau to engage in BDSM activities with the child and teach the child techniques to become a sexual dominatrix. When the child was 14 years old, Barkau created a business out of the home where he advertised the child over the Internet as a 19-to-20-year-old BDSM dominatrix, “Mistress Alisha,” on a website that he created called www.EvilMistressAlisha.com.