SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – What happened inside a Southfield hotel over the weekend has a man behind bars and a woman coming forward with a harrowing story of human trafficking that stretches across three states.
New information was revealed on Wednesday (July 23) about a human trafficking case involving a 21-year-old woman and a man in his 30s.
The reported victim shared some harrowing details about what happened.
Southfield police responded to a domestic disturbance call at the Quality Inn on Telegraph Road, where a woman reported that a man had smashed her windshield.
When officers asked where the man was, the woman pointed to one of three rooms inside the hotel.
That detail raised immediate concern.
Karen McDonald, a human trafficking prosecutor, said, “What we know is that traffickers go to hotels and motels around a certain price range, and they secure a number of rooms, so they can turn a profit.”
The woman then told officers she had no idea what state she was in and identified herself as a victim of human trafficking.
“She’s given food and shelter, and that’s about it. These victims are in a place where they don’t know where they are, they don’t have a home, they have nothing in their lives to give them support, and their basic needs except this trafficker.”
Karen McDonald
The alleged trafficker, Randolph Demarcus Lewis from Texas, was arraigned in court on a variety of charges, including running a human trafficking enterprise resulting in injury and commercial sexual activity.
According to the warrant, the trafficking occurred at the hotel between July 19 and July 21.
The operation took place right in the community, unnoticed by people driving by.
“It is right by your house. It is right in our communities, and we have to protect these victims. We are also prosecuting the people who use these services and are paying the trafficker to have sexual encounters with these victims, because that is also a crime.”
Karen McDonald
Local 4 did learn that Lewis was giving a $300,000 cash/surety bond, no 10%.
He will be before Judge Nance in District Court on August 4th for his next hearing.