Charges: MN mom trafficked her 11-year-old daughter for cash, drugs

A northern Minnesota woman is facing decades in prison for the alleged sex-trafficking of her daughter.

Daisy Joy Buley, a 36-year-old Ely resident, is scheduled to appear in court on Monday for a hearing on multiple sex crime charges.

She was arrested on August 24, a few weeks after her daughter, now in her late teens, told investigators that Buley "trafficked her to several different men in exchange for money and drugs" from the time she was 11 years old until she was 13, the criminal charges say.

The victim said she recalled having been trafficked seven times, telling authorities that her mother forbade her from eating and would force her to "get pretty" for the men.

The charges say Buley would drive the girl to the men's residences — which were all in "small towns" — and leave her alone with the suspects, who would then sexually assault her.

When the men were done, they would call the defendant to pick up her daughter, and Buley would be paid in "wads of cash" or in narcotics, the victim reported. "Usually," the charges noted, "Buley would send (her daughter) out to the car, and then stay and talk with the men for a while."

The victim told investigators that Buley "threatened to kill her if she tried to fight back or tell anyone what was happening."

The woman has been charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and another count of first-degree aggravated sex trafficking. Buley is facing decades behind bars for both charges.

However, in a motion filed last week, prosecutors asked the court for harsher penalties beyond the sentencing guidelines. They cited multiple aggravating factors, including the defendant's relationship with the victim, and the fact that at least one of the crimes occurred "in a location in which the victim had an expectation of privacy."

According to St. Louis County jail records, Buley is being held in custody on a $102,000 bond.