CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two people are facing federal charges in connection to the trafficking and prostitution of a 14-year-old girl, according to investigators with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
It’s the second case involving a young teen in Charlotte in just one week.
Channel 9 was the only station there as Derrick Evans, 28 and Kiandra Stoudemire, 23, were escorted out of CMPD headquarters Wednesday evening.
When asked about the charges Evans said, “no comment.” He also denied knowledge of the girl’s age.
Investigators said they found Stoudemire and the teen online, advertising their services together.
Officers went undercover with the help of an area hotel and it was at this location Wednesday that police took the woman and girl into custody. Police said Evans drove the pair to the hotel and was soon after arrested in his vehicle.
Investigators said the 14-year-old in this case is the girl they were looking for last week at the Quality Inn in West Charlotte, after a tip to another law enforcement agency.
Channel 9 reported when officers found a 15-year-old girl instead. They said she was also being prostituted, but by another man and woman.
Investigators said in both cases the teens weren’t being held against their will. Those dedicated to fighting human trafficking and prostitution told Channel 9 this fact can sometimes make it difficult for the community to understand the crime.
“It’s hard for the community to understand why they don’t just leave but the reality is that there is such mental and emotional control,” said Hannah Arrowood, who serves as executive director of Present Age Ministries.
The organization provides a range of services to survivors of trafficking and prostitution.
“Seventy to 90 percent of victims were sexually abused as a child so at a very young age they’re being taught that love is abusive and they attach those words together,” said Arrowood.
Arrowood was quick to add a child doesn’t necessarily have to be a victim of child abuse in order to be vulnerable to this type of crime.
She and law enforcement agencies suggest parents monitor their child when online, as this is often where a relationship starts.
WSOC
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