A Kent couple faces charges of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor in connection with recruiting a 13-year-old girl to work as a prostitute out of the man’s East Hill apartment as well as on a trip to Oregon.
LaDontae M. Lewis, 20, and Tamika L. Jones, 18, each pleaded not guilty to the charges on March 30 in King County Superior Court. Lewis remained in custody on Thursday at the county jail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent with bail set at $75,000. Jones remained at the county jail in Seattle with bail set at $75,000.
“They directed the child to pose provocatively and took pictures of her, which they then posted online,” senior deputy prosecuting attorney Val Richey said in charging documents. “They prostituted the victim to dozens of men and took the money paid by the sex buyers.”
Kent Police initiated the case in early March when a detective reviewed backpage.com for potential victims of sex trafficking being posted in the escorts section, according to charging papers. He discovered an ad that featured four photos of a young female posed in various stages of undress. The ad listed a phone number and a $150 special fee in Kent.
The detective posed as a customer and the undercover investigation began. Eventually, the 13-year-old girl called 911 to report a domestic dispute between herself and Jones at the same Washington Park Apartment complex along Kent Kangley Road that police had been looking at as the possible home base for the girl.
Police took Jones and the young girl to the Kent Police Station for interviews. The girl said she had met Lewis in Skyway a few months ago through a friend. A couple of weeks later, Lewis and Jones asked her to come stay with them at the Kent apartment because she needed somewhere to live.
While at the apartment, the girl said the couple had her undress to her bra and panties and took photos of her that they wanted to post on backpage.com, according to charging documents. Jones taught the girl about how to respond to phone calls and what to do with the money she received from men while in the apartment.
The couple would go down to stay in a car during the dates set up through the ads or hide in an apartment closet. The couple also reportedly took the girl to Portland where she had sex for money with about 10 men in one day in a hotel room. The men replied to ads on backpage.com. The couple kept all of the money.
Police tracked down Lewis in a car near the Kent apartment and arrested him and Jones on March 17. Lewis said Jones was his girlfriend but he denied knowing she had posted ads on backpage.com. He also denied taking a trip to Portland with Jones and the girl or that he knew the girl was 13 years old.
Detectives executed a search warrant on the apartment and car of Lewis. They found at the apartment a money bag with $700 cash, panties with blood on them in the bathroom trash and an empty condom box in the kitchen trash. In the car, they found a purse with a men’s wallet, the driver’s license of Lewis and a cellphone that matched the phone the girl had used to arrange dates through the ads.
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