A couple in Ventura is charged with human sex trafficking after arrested into custody by the police on Wednesday afternoon. The suspects are identified as 18-year-old Asia Jones from Riverside County and 27-year-old Percy Stanley from Arkansas.
According to the investigators, a resident in block 3100 of Armada Drive called the police at 1:16 am and reported a possible act of prostitution. The resident seems to have seen a young woman being dropped by a silver Benz in the resident's area who later met up with a Hispanic man. The two of them walked into the side yard and began having a sexual intercourse in the common view.
As the resident approached the area, both individuals began running away. However, police officers who moments after found the young woman, described her to be a young black female with pink hair wearing a black bra and spandex pants, roaming in the area of Lang and Main streets. They later identified her as a missing 16-year-old from Riverside County.
The police were also able to locate Jones and Stanley who were walking along the area of Dos Caminos and Telegraph Road and discovered a connection between all three of them.
Members from the Patrol Task Force, Ventura Police Department's Sex Crimes Unit, and Ventura County Human Trafficking Enforcement Team assisted the investigation.
"Stanley and Jones had been staying at a local Ventura motel with the 16-year-old female victim. Stanley and Jones had posted an ad of the victim on social media sites known for Internet prostitution and human sex trafficking," stated the Ventura Police Department. "Detectives believe the male subject seen having sex on Armada Dr. with the 16-year-old victim had learned of the victim's availability for sex on one of these websites," investigators stated.
They also believe that the county has been gaining attention in the past years for prostitution activities and human trafficking is still hiding beneath the surface.
The silver Mercedes Benz used to drop off the young woman on Armada Drive were also tracked down by the police and found out that it's Stanley's. Investigators secured the evidence that indicates Jones and Stanley to be the 16-year-old victim's pimps.
Both suspects sent to Ventura County Jail. While Stanley was charged with Human Trafficking of a Minor, Pimping of a Minor, and for a felony warrant out of San Bernardino County for human trafficking of a minor; Jones was charged with Pimping of a Minor and Human Trafficking of a Minor.
