After a Chicago cop paid a 14-year-old girl for sex in 2015, the girl told federal investigators intimate, granular details about their encounters — including the exact types of condoms he used: LifeStyles condoms and Trojan Magnum condoms in gold wrappers, court records said. The Trojan Magnum and LifeStyles condoms Whitley used to commit the crime came from outside Illinois, where the crime occurred — meaning his “conduct affected interstate commerce,” the complaint said. That interstate element (in addition to Whitley’s use of a phone and other factors) made it possible to charge him in federal court, where Whitley pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of sex trafficking a minor, according to court records. Had Whitley not been charged at the federal level, he may have faced a state sentence less harsh than the mandatory 10-year minimum sentence that federal sex trafficking charges carry, the Chicago Tribune reports — which could explain why prosecutors sought federal charges. In the plea agreement, prosecutors specifically mention the condom use, stating “Whitley used condoms during the commercial sex acts with Minor A” and he “acknowledges that Trojan condoms and LifeStyles condoms are manufactured outside the state of Illinois.” 
 
 There were other aspects of Whitley’s actions that hit the “federal nexus,” including his use of a cellphone to take compromising pictures of two girls and using money to pay them, prosecutors said. Whitley was a Chicago police officer during 2015 when, he now admits, he paid between $60 to $150 for sex acts with the girl referred to as Minor A. “The gun traveling is analogous to the condom traveling,” said Juliet Sorensen, a Northwestern University law professor and former federal prosecutor. “The person who pulled the trigger may not have traveled, but the gun did. This police officer may not have traveled, but an aspect that he used to commit the crime did.” 
 
 Most LifeStyles condoms are manufactured in Thailand and India.  CPD veteran admits to paying young girls for sex, faces life in prison 
 
 William Whitley acknowledged Tuesday he paid young girls for sex. Whitley said he didn’t know the girl was only 14 when he had sex with her, according to court records. Minor A, who was 14 at the time of the sex acts, told investigators she initially lied to Whitley and told him she was 23. When confronted, Whitley acknowledged he saw braces on the teeth of a 14-year-old girl he paid for sex, according to the criminal complaint that led to his arrest. But even as he prepared to admit his guilt to a federal judge Tuesday, Whitley insisted that braces on the teeth of one young girl “don’t dictate a person’s age.” He still thought she was older. She said she was introduced to him in June 2015 and had sex with him about five times, collecting between $60 and $150 from him each time. The longtime veteran of the Chicago Police Department admitted he would order them up before he’d go to work — leaving his uniform hanging on the bedroom door and his gun under his pillow while they were in bed. Whitley told the girl he was a police officer and kept his police uniform hanging up in his apartment on his bedroom door, according to court documents, and also kept a loaded firearm under his pillow on the bed where he engaged in commercial sex acts with the girl. Authorities found the photos (which Whitley had texted to to the girl) when they searched the girl’s phone. The October 2015 search of Whitley’s home also revealed contacts on his phone — “Jasmine,” “Bunny,” “Brittany Aka Mocha” and “Star” — with whom Whitley was discussing prices and meeting times, suggesting he was engaged in prostitution with them, court records said. In the plea agreement, Whitley also acknowledged he paid for sex acts with three other girls during his time as a police officer between 2012 and 2015. She said Whitley pulled up next to her and a friend once in Englewood and asked if they wanted to take a ride with him and “his partner.” They agreed, though the girl said she suspected Whitley might be a cop based on the way he spoke. The girl got in the car, where Whitley was in the driver’s seat and the “partner” was in the passenger’s seat. That’s when she said Whitley gave her $65 “in exchange for giving him oral sex.” She said she had oral sex with Whitley five times, each time collecting $60 to $65 from him. When the 16-year-old had been with Whitley for some time, she began giving his phone number out to friends so they could also have sex with Whitley for money, court records said. Chicago police took away Whitley's police powers in September 2015, the Sun-Times reports.
– A former cop who paid underage girls for sex is facing a harsher sentence over his brand of condom, the Chicago Tribune reports. William Whitley, 61, pleaded guilty this week in federal court to sex trafficking of a minor and will likely serve 10 years to life. Prosecutors leveled federal charges partly because his condoms—LifeStyles and Trojan Magnums—were manufactured outside of Illinois, meaning he engaged in interstate commerce, the Kansas City Star reports. His use of a cellphone to snap sexually explicit photos of two girls and paying them with money also hit the "federal nexus," prosecutors say. The condom brands were included in the FBI's criminal complaint the way guns often are. "The gun traveling is analogous to the condom traveling," says a law professor and former federal prosecutor. "The person who pulled the trigger may not have traveled, but the gun did. This police officer may not have traveled, but an aspect that he used to commit the crime did." Whitley claimed he didn't know one of the girls was 14 when they had sex over a four-month period in 2015, but investigators suggested that her braces could have tipped him off. He met the other girl, a 16-year-old runaway, at a party where runaways prostituted themselves to older men. She says she gave him oral sex five times for $60 to $65 each. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Whitley, a 20-year veteran of the Chicago PD, will be sentenced in September.