Human Trafficking News

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Pair imprisoned for running teen-prostitution ring, July 9, 2007


Posted by Jim Nichols July 09, 2007 16:28PM

The Plain Dealer

A judge imprisoned a woman today for two years for running a teen-prostitution ring out of her Garfield Heights apartment, and locked up a male accomplice for twice as long.

Samantha Hunter, 36, pleaded guilty in May to prostitution-related felonies involving a minor in a plea deal that dropped a string of kidnapping, abduction and rape charges.

Co-defendant Jonathan McNeil, 24, admitted to similar charges, but was already on probation for attempted vehicular assault. That and McNeil's prior theft-related convictions resulted in a harsher penalty, said Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose.

Some men told police the two defendants used telephone chat lines to lure them to liaisons with prostitutes, then rifled their wallets.

When an undercover officer visited Hunter's apartment in a sting, a 13-year-old girl solicited sex from him. When police questioned her, she detailed a scheme in which she would lure johns into a back bedroom while the adults ripped them off.

The two defendants claimed they babysat the girl but didn't know she was secretly prostituting herself.

Said Ambrose: "I certainly didn't buy that."

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