Baltimore woman facing over 100 charges stemming from sex trafficking ring
WBAL
By Khiree Stewart
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PIKESVILLE, Maryland (WBAL) — A statewide sex trafficking ring investigation busted a Baltimore woman accused of running it and now faces more than 100 charges. Investigators said she forced multiple vulnerable women into prostitution at multiple hotels across the state.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office said that 33-year-old Kenika Danielle Leach faces 135 counts in a multi-agency sex trafficking investigation.
“The fact that someone would prey on a vulnerable population to exploit for their financial gain and their benefit is heartbreaking, and it’s truly saddening,” Thomas Lester, a spokesperson with the Maryland Attorney General, said.
He said the investigation started in December 2021 when a hospital contacted Baltimore police and told them that a patient admitted to being a victim of sex trafficking.
“We looked over a tireless amount of financial records, social media and other documents to be able to put this case all together,” Lester said. “Through that investigation, we were able to identify 10 additional victims.”
According to the indictment, from 2019 to 2021, Leach led a group of “supervisors” in charge of recruiting vulnerable women who were mostly from the Hagerstown area. The indictment said they gave the victims drugs, controlled their access to those drugs, and pressured them into prostitution.
Authorities believe these women were trafficked to at least nine hotels around the state, including a Motel 6 in Linthicum Heights, a Quality Inn in Windsor Mill, and a Ramada in Pikesville.
The money the women earned would then be given to Leach as payment for the drugs.
“This is a case of where we had someone preying on vulnerable victims using addiction as a method to control and coerce them to perform these commercial sex acts,” Lester said.
The indictment also reveals Leach would use physical violence to control the women, and investigators are asking any other victims to come forward.
“What I will say to anyone who may be a victim out there, who has experiences is that it’s cases like this that shows our determination and our will to put an end to it and bring to justice those who ultimately prey on a vulnerable population,” Lester said.
Leach is currently being held without bail. Her next court appearance is scheduled for June 24 in Washington County Circuit Court.
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