The San Jose Police Department is lauding a “courageous” 14-year-old girl for helping break up a human trafficking operation that she herself was trapped in.
According to the Mercury News, the teen texted the Crisis Text Line on Sunday, reporting that she was being held against her will and being forced into prostitution.
Officers raced to the girl’s location at a Motel 6 and arrested three suspects: 39-year-old Christopher Lyon Johnson of Sacramento, California; 43-year-old Antoine Williams of Merrillville, Indiana; and 59-year-old Curtis Lee Russell of Natomas, California.
The teen, according to Sgt. Enrique Garcia, was not only able to save herself, but officers were also able to rescue two women from California, both in their early 20s.
“It was courageous for the 14-year-old to do what she did,” he said.
It turns out that the teen had been reported as a missing runaway from Flint, Michigan, on Sept. 1, 2018. She reportedly went to Chicago but was kidnapped shortly after and taken to Gary, Indiana. Garcia said, ultimately, she was taken to various cities in California where she was forced into prostitution.
All three suspects are being held without bail on multiple, serious charges.
Johnson and Williams are being held on felony charges of human trafficking, pimping, pandering, and kidnapping, while Russell is facing felony charges of human trafficking and pimping.
Police believe that the men may have forced other victims into prostitution, and Garcia vowed to get to the bottom of the case.
“We take these cases extremely seriously and we’re going to allocate the resources necessary to solve them,” he said.
