The victim is 23 years old, and she told detectives she was homeless and desperate for a place to stay, when a man she hardly knew offered to let her stay in his hotel room.
But detectives say this was no Good Samaritan.
He was already plotting to become her pimp.
The reverse sting here at the Red Roof Inn on Elkridge Landing Road on Wednesday came after a tip and detectives soon found the victim featured in an on-line ad on Backpage and arranged to meet.
The cost?
$150 for half an hour.
But surveillance also showed the woman in the company of a man who was later identified as 28-year old Joshua Newman of Catonsville.
According to charging documents, Newman moved in and out of the room, produced his own key card to unlock the door and waited outside as johns came and went.
"A lot of times whatever room that the female gets, the male will get the room for her and they are in close proximity,” said Lt. Ryan Frashure of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, “A lot of times, they may use a cell phone and leave the cell phone on so the male can be in another room and hear exactly what's going on. So he knows what she's doing... what she's saying and even if she gets in trouble, he's there to not only force her to do these activities, but he's there to protect her as well because he's protecting his investment.”
In this case, the officer posing as a customer was directed to room 315, but the prostitute than walked him next door to 317.
Newman's alleged negotiations over the phone with the undercover detective for extra service then added to his undoing.
When the detective entered the room and mentioned other sexual acts for a few hundred dollars more, she had no idea what he was talking about.
That's when other members of the vice unit moved in and made the arrests.
"During an interview with the male and female, it was learned that the male was actually forcing the female, verbally forcing her and physically with physical violence to perform these sexual acts and to perform prostitution," said Frashure.
At first the victim refused to talk to detectives claiming she feared Newman would kill her.
Later, she claimed the self-proclaimed member of the Bloods gang had already caught her once when she tried to escape, and often struck her, grabbed her around the throat and spit on her while forcing her to perform while he collected the profits.
Newman faces a half a dozen human trafficking charges, along with counts of assault and prostitution for business, which, if convicted on all counts would land him behind bars for 85 years.
