Two teenagers are accused of holding captive and trafficking a woman who was visiting Seattle for Major League Baseball's All-Star Week.
Terrique Devon Milam, 19, is charged in King County Superior Court with two counts of promoting prostitution in the second degree. A 17-year-old boy is charged in juvenile court with promoting prostitution in the first degree and second-degree kidnapping. Both are also accused of unlawful possession of a firearm.
The Seattle Times does not typically name juvenile suspects unless they are charged as adults.
Prosecutors allege the suspects kept the 18-year-old victim in the Mount Baker neighborhood, transported her and a 21-year-old woman to Aurora Avenue and hotels for sex work, and took any money she earned.
Milam, who was out of jail after posting bond for domestic violence and reckless endangerment charges, was under a court protection order that barred him from possessing firearms.
The victim met a woman in her home state of Texas who told her she could make money by dancing at clubs close to the All-Star Game, according to court papers. When she arrived, she became a victim of human trafficking, prosecutors say.
Eventually, she met the 21-year-old woman who introduced her to the suspects, the documents say. Once she began working for the 17-year-old, he took all of her earnings, assaulted her and threatened her, prosecutors allege.
The 18-year-old woman called her father and told him the suspects were keeping her against her will, wouldn't let her pay her phone bill and took her identification, according to the charges. Her father called 911, and police were able to find her location because she had shared it with her father.
The police also recovered hundreds of pills suspected to contain fentanyl from Milam's car, charges say. The pills have gone to a lab for testing, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office said.
The 17-year-old is set to be arraigned in juvenile court on Wednesday. Milam's arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 3.
