Teen Raped, Prostituted By Jamaica Man She Met On Facebook : DA

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- A teen girl was repeatedly raped and pimped out against her will for months after a man she met online lured her to his Jamaica home with an invitation to model tattoos, prosecutors say.

That man, 34-year-old Richard "KB" Trantham, faces years behind bars for the alleged crimes after being arraigned Monday on charges including sex trafficking and rape, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. The Jamaica man is accused of not only raping the then-16-year-old girl repeatedly, but prostituting her to men for three months and pocketing the money.

"I once again want to stress that prostitution is not a victimless crime and that sex trafficking is an incessant act of brutality and degradation," Brown said. "This teenage girl was finally freed but she will have to live with this horrible experience for the rest of her life.”

Trantham met the girl through Facebook in September 2017, when she was just 16 years old, and invited her to model tattoos for him at his home, according to the charges. It is alleged that the teen agreed and Trantham picked her up and took her to his house.

Once the teen girl was there, the Queens man allegedly raped her multiple times and forced her to prostitute for several other men by threatening to hurt her until November 2017, prosecutors say.

Trantham was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on 16 charges, including: compelling prostitution, sex trafficking, three counts of promoting prostitution, ten counts of rape and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Trantham was ordered to return to court on March. 6. He is currently being held in jail on a $250,000 bail.

Lead photo via Shutterstock.