Tacoma couple charged with prostituting teen runaway

Pierce County prosecutors have charged a couple accused of prostituting a teenage runaway they met in Tacoma.

Desmond Wade Jr., 25, and Michkalin Fox, 24, are charged with first-degree human trafficking, promoting commercial sex abuse of a minor, first-degree promoting prostitution and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a person under 18.

Neither has been arrested nor arraigned.

Tacoma police took over the investigation in April after FBI agents interviewed the victim, a 15-year-old girl who left her Lacey home in January 2014.

Charging papers give this account:

The girl ran away to Tacoma and met up with a man who promised he could “make her life better” and get her lots of money.

The unidentified man showed up with Wade, who police say is a gang member. The girl was put up in a hotel room and the victim was convinced to prostitute herself via Backpage.com.

Wade and Fox took photos of the victim for the website and acted as a pimp. The victim told agents they fed her about once a week, got her addicted to methamphetamine and kept her locked in her hotel room.

After a month, she decided to run away. When she later called Fox for help, Wade found her and beat her before leaving her with her friends.

This story was originally published August 26, 2015 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Tacoma couple charged with prostituting teen runaway."