Two men pleaded not guilty Monday to charges they had prostituted a teenage girl they advertised on Backpage.com and raped a woman who refused to work for them.
Pierce County prosecutors charged Eugene Andre Young, 28, and Claude Anthony Hutchinson, 25, with second-degree rape and promoting commercial sexual abuse against a minor.
They were arraigned Monday in Pierce County Superior Court.
Lakewood police and the FBI’s Innocence Lost Task Force became aware of the men after receiving a tip Oct. 2 that a 16-year-old girl was advertised as an escort on Backpage.com. Two undercover officers arranged to meet her at a hotel room in SeaTac, where she was taken into custody and interviewed.
The teen told police “the defendants made her prostitute and said she would feel pain if she did not comply,” according to charging papers.
Court documents give this account:
The girl met the men on a bus Sept. 25 and agreed to cash a check for them. They took her to a motel in Fife, where they took photos of her scantily clad and told her they would take care of her if she made them money.
She feared the men because she’d seen them beat a woman who refused to do what they told her to do.
The teen prostituted herself with 20 to 30 men and gave Young her earnings, which amounted to about $2,000. He used the money to pay for the motel room and to buy food and condoms.
Fife police arrested the teen Sept. 28 on suspicion of prostitution.
After she was released, the teen declined to return home because she said her mother didn’t want her. She “returned to the defendants because she had nowhere else to go,” according to the charging papers.
Young and Hutchinson brought her to the motel in SeaTac, where she was made to prostitute again before being taken into custody.
The second victim told police she dated Young but broke up with him once she discovered he was a pimp. After a recent meeting in Tacoma, Young took the woman to the Fife motel and “slapped her around” because she refused to prostitute for him and sexually assaulted her for several days.
The second victim’s family eventually came to her rescue when Young and Hutchinson left the motel.
Young was arrested at the SeaTac motel; charging documents do not say where Hutchinson was taken into custody.
stacia.glenn@ thenewstribune.com
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.