Teh One Who Knocks
08-11-2016, 11:11 AM
By Victoria St. Martin - The Washington Post
http://i.imgur.com/C1NpsrU.jpg
Authorities are searching for possible human trafficking victims in Montgomery County after a teenage girl told investigators a couple forced her to have sex with an estimated 288 people at a Silver Spring hotel, according to police and court documents.
Police charged the pair — identified as Atuan Saran Rogers, 34, and Dierra Victoria Lee Thomas, 19, both of the 100 block of Lamarck Drive in Fort Washington — with prostitution offenses. Detectives, who said in court files that the teen worked for the two for about 2 ½ months, are concerned the duo may have engaged in human trafficking of other juveniles.
In the case charged, investigators listed a birth date for the victim that would make the teen 14, but in other police records she is listed as 15.
Detectives said in charging documents that they learned of the teen in late March from Child Protective Services.
Authorities said Rogers, known as “Rose Moe,” and Thomas, known as “Ire,” approached the teen while she was at a hotel with friends. Shortly after that, police said in arrest files, she met the pair at a Silver Spring hotel and began working as a prostitute for about 2 ½ months.
According to a charging document, the teen told police that after being approached by the pair, she made followup contact with them by phone and through Thomas’s Instagram account and said they encouraged her to leave home on Oct. 25, 2015. The teen told detectives that Rogers worked as a pimp for 15 years, used a website to post prostitution advertisements with fake photos and charged $100 to $200 for sex acts, the charging document said.
During the months she worked for the couple, the teen told police she worked three to four days a week and was forced to have sex with about eight to 10 people a day, according to the document.
While she worked for Rogers, the teen told authorities, she was told to give Rogers the passcode to her phone, had no access to money and was hit in the face when she said she did not “want to have sex anymore,” according to court records.
Detectives found the online advertisements and discovered that Rogers rented rooms at a 13th Street hotel in Silver Spring from Jan. 10 through Jan. 27, police said. Thomas was arrested on July 11 and Rogers was arrested July 29.
In addition to prostitution, Rogers was charged with human trafficking. He is being held in the Montgomery County Detention Center on a $80,000 bond. Thomas was also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit human trafficking in addition to prostitution and was released on a $5,000 bond.
Investigators are urging anyone who has information about human trafficking activities involving Rogers and Thomas to contact the Montgomery County Police Department’s Vice and Intelligence Section at (240) 773-5959.
http://i.imgur.com/C1NpsrU.jpg
Authorities are searching for possible human trafficking victims in Montgomery County after a teenage girl told investigators a couple forced her to have sex with an estimated 288 people at a Silver Spring hotel, according to police and court documents.
Police charged the pair — identified as Atuan Saran Rogers, 34, and Dierra Victoria Lee Thomas, 19, both of the 100 block of Lamarck Drive in Fort Washington — with prostitution offenses. Detectives, who said in court files that the teen worked for the two for about 2 ½ months, are concerned the duo may have engaged in human trafficking of other juveniles.
In the case charged, investigators listed a birth date for the victim that would make the teen 14, but in other police records she is listed as 15.
Detectives said in charging documents that they learned of the teen in late March from Child Protective Services.
Authorities said Rogers, known as “Rose Moe,” and Thomas, known as “Ire,” approached the teen while she was at a hotel with friends. Shortly after that, police said in arrest files, she met the pair at a Silver Spring hotel and began working as a prostitute for about 2 ½ months.
According to a charging document, the teen told police that after being approached by the pair, she made followup contact with them by phone and through Thomas’s Instagram account and said they encouraged her to leave home on Oct. 25, 2015. The teen told detectives that Rogers worked as a pimp for 15 years, used a website to post prostitution advertisements with fake photos and charged $100 to $200 for sex acts, the charging document said.
During the months she worked for the couple, the teen told police she worked three to four days a week and was forced to have sex with about eight to 10 people a day, according to the document.
While she worked for Rogers, the teen told authorities, she was told to give Rogers the passcode to her phone, had no access to money and was hit in the face when she said she did not “want to have sex anymore,” according to court records.
Detectives found the online advertisements and discovered that Rogers rented rooms at a 13th Street hotel in Silver Spring from Jan. 10 through Jan. 27, police said. Thomas was arrested on July 11 and Rogers was arrested July 29.
In addition to prostitution, Rogers was charged with human trafficking. He is being held in the Montgomery County Detention Center on a $80,000 bond. Thomas was also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit human trafficking in addition to prostitution and was released on a $5,000 bond.
Investigators are urging anyone who has information about human trafficking activities involving Rogers and Thomas to contact the Montgomery County Police Department’s Vice and Intelligence Section at (240) 773-5959.