Man Accused In Child Prostitution Ring
4 Teenage Girls Found By Police
POSTED: 12:38 pm MST January 3,
2008
PHOENIX -- Phoenix police arrested a man accused of forcing underage girls into prostitution.Sgt. Joel Tranter said Deon Richerson, 25, was arrested early Thursday after an officer saw a teenage girl walking alone in the area of 27th Avenue and McDowell Road.Tranter said the girl admitted that she was working as a prostitute, and that her pimp was nearby.Tranter said police arrested Richerson after making a traffic stop, and that led them to a Mesa hotel near U.S. 60 and Dobson, where they found three more underage girls.Tranter said the girls range in age from 15 to one who had just turned 18, and that three of them were runaways from the Los Angeles area and the other was a runaway from Oregon.
Tranter said the alleged pimp arrived in the Phoenix area Tuesday from Las Vegas. Police said the girls were forced to prostitute themselves in California as well.Police said Richerson told at least three of the girls they needed to earn $1,000 between them each night.None of the girls required medical attention and are being cooperative with police, Tranter said.It's believed Richerson had an accomplice or two but no other arrests have yet been made, according to police.Richerson faces one count of kidnap-involuntary servitude and six counts child prostitution.ELSEWHERE ON KPHO.COM: Eleven people, including a Queen Creek man and a man described as one of the nation's most prolific senders of "spam" e-mail, were named in an indictment unsealed Thursday that accuses them of defrauding people by manipulating Chinese stock prices. CLICK HERE for details. MORE SLIDESHOWS: From the bizarre to the tragic to late-breaking news, visit the KPHO.com slideshow section and click away! CLICK HERE for images.
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