The Daily Trumpeter: Putting the Dollar Menu to WORK: Man paid prostitutes in heroin, food from McDonald’s dollar menu

Over in Chicago they make the best of everything. Not a single resource is left unturned, especially when it comes to rewarding your employees. What better way to show them you appreciate their hard-work than the greasy Mcdonalds. You can't go to the ATM to get the spare change you need to complete the bill, so why not dash to Mcdonald's and pay - in kind. A West Side man who allegedly forced young girls into prostitution — and then rewarded them with drugs and food from McDonald’s dollar menu — was ordered held in lieu of $1 million Wednesday.

DaJuan Brown, also know “Juan Clark,” beat and exploited at least 12 girls for a five-year period, sometimes locking his victims up without any food or appliances at his West Side apartment, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Brown, 35, would ply the girls with heroin and if they met their quotas with johns he would reward them with more drugs and food from the McDonald’s dollar menu, prosecutors said.

If they failed to meet his demands, Brown, who is nicknamed “Church,” would allegedly keep the drugs from the girls and let them go through withdrawal as a form of punishment. In at least one instance, he got one clean girl hooked on heroin, prosecutors said Wednesday, describing how Brown would control his victims’ drug addictions.

Brown would prostitute the girls through the Internet and would give them pre-paid Cricket cell phones to use when they were out, prosecutors said. When they returned, the victims would have to give their phones back to Brown.

Brown would deadbolt the back door of apartment in the 1400 block of North Laramie when the girls were inside, prosecutors said. He also had a man guarding the door and when one escaped, Brown knocked her unconscious, prosecutors said.

The victims, who were forced to give Brown all their money, IDs and phones, were ordered to run to and from their apartment to a van that Brown or another girl would drive to the “Tracks,” an area where they met up with customers, prosecutors said. If the girls refused to work, Brown would allegedly beat them with his fists, hangers and other objects. Once, he choked a victim with a belt until she was blue in the face, prosecutors said. That same girl was also allegedly pistol whipped by Brown. He once beat a girl who returned with no money with a wooden stick, another he backhanded and when a girl purchased a $6 pint of brandy, he attacked her too, prosecutors said. One girl who made the mistake of having her own cell phone was pulled out of bed by her hair, slapped and then thrown back on the bedroom floor, prosecutors said.

Brown’s alleged illegal activities came to light when Cook County sheriff’s police were told by members of the National Human Trafficking Hotline that a missing woman — one of Brown’s victims — was being were exploited by her pimp, authorities said.

Brown, who is currently on bond for driving on a suspended license, has been charged with involuntary servitude and aggravated trafficking.

Brown has four previous felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance, aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and robbery.