The FBI has begun a criminal investigation into human trafficking in Arkansas after the arrest of a Wynne woman and the rescue of a 15-year-old girl who had been forced into prostitution, state and federal authorities said Monday.
Arkansas State Police officials and a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Thyer said the FBI is working with troopers as they investigate Amber Nicole Johnson, 28, who has been charged in Craighead County with a state charge of trafficking of persons.
Johnson was arrested April 29 on the Craighead County warrant at a south Little Rock motel where state troopers also found the 15-year-old girl, who they say had been "sexually exploited," and two other children, ages 2 and 3, who were being held in the same motel room with the teenager.
In a written statement, state police Col. Bill Bryant said troopers were led to Johnson and the children despite having "little to work with; only allegations of a runaway child somewhere in Arkansas held against her will."
"The troopers reached out to others in this department who possess specialized training, and together they devoted themselves to rescue a child lost in the vicious world of human traffickers," Bryant said, referring to the troopers working with civilian investigators of the agency's Crimes Against Children Division.
In an interview, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens, spokesman for Thyer's office, confirmed that FBI agents are now involved in the case, but he couldn't say whether people other than Johnson are being targeted by the federal investigation.
"The FBI is investigating it. ... Anytime there's human trafficking in our jurisdiction we're going to look into that," Givens said.
Court documents show that the 15-year-old is at least the third underage girl that Johnson is accused of forcing into prostitution.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed April 13 in Craighead County District Court, state police Crimes Against Children Division investigators began looking into Johnson in February after a 14-year-old girl was taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital.
The girl told a social worker that she had gone into foster care in July and was placed with a foster family in August. But three months later, around Thanksgiving, she ran away.
The girl said she then traveled to Jonesboro with Johnson, who is a relative, and Johnson then forced her into prostitution, according to the affidavit.
"The victim reported that she was having sexual intercourse with (4) four to (6) six men each day and was told that Amber Johnson's children would not be able to eat if she stopped prostituting," Jonesboro police Detective Jason Simpkins wrote in the affidavit, noting that Johnson was paid $40 to $50 per sexual encounter.
In addition to the 14-year-old girl, investigators interviewed the girl's 17-year-old sister.
The elder sibling, who also had run away from foster care, said that Johnson forced her and her sister to have sex for money with men she described only as "Mexicans," according to the affidavit.
The older girl said that the prostitution took place in "Jonesboro hotels" including the Deluxe Inn, where Johnson had rented a room, the affidavit states.
On Monday, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said he couldn't release the name of the Little Rock motel where Johnson was arrested because it could jeopardize an ongoing investigation.
He said Johnson was taken to the Pulaski County jail after her arrest and later transported to the Craighead County jail.
On Monday, Johnson was being held there in lieu of $250,000 bond related to the human-trafficking charge, as well as a probation violation and other unrelated misdemeanor charges. The human-trafficking charge, a Class Y felony because it involves a minor, carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
Sadler said the 15-year-old girl found at the motel was placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
"She was not arrested," Sadler said.
Human Services spokesman Kate Luck said that she couldn't say whether the 15-year-old had been placed in the agency's custody or provide details about the specific type of facility or home where the girl has since been housed.
"Typically, we would try to locate their guardian or locate where they came from and determine whether it's a safe situation or not, working with law enforcement to do that. If it's not a safe situation, the child would likely enter foster care," Luck said.
In general, Luck said that the agency would usually put the child in an "emergency foster placement," which includes housing the girl at a shelter or children's home.
Luck noted that the girl also could be placed in a locked setting such as a juvenile detention center if she faced some type of criminal or juvenile charges.
"If they're not facing charges, we do not place them in a [juvenile detention center], but a judge may order that they be placed there for various reasons," Luck said. "If that does happen, then we try to find them an alternate placement as soon as possible.
"Most of the time we and the judges look for a specialized placement -- a therapeutic foster home -- that can help address some of the counseling needs of being a victim of human trafficking," Luck added.
Givens noted that the federal government doesn't handle prostitution charges and that the girl shouldn't be charged with that offense as a part of the investigation.
"When they use words like 'sexually exploited' in the allegations, it's going to be that they're forced into it," he said. "When it's forced prostitution, you don't get charged."
Metro on 05/05/2015