OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – A Sterling Heights man has been charged after a woman was forced to have sex for money, drugged to keep going, and beaten if she refused, prosecutors said.
Oakland County prosecutors say Jacob Michael Nelson, 39, of Sterling Heights, forced the woman to have sex with customers he solicited online, in exchange for money.
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Prosecutors said the woman was forced to take Adderall and methamphetamine in order to serve more customers.
If she refused sex work, the woman was beaten, according to prosecutors.
Nelson is charged with:
- Conducting a human trafficking enterprise -- punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
- Accepting earnings from prostitution -- punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
- Transporting a person for purposes of prostitution -- punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
“Human trafficking festered for too long in our communities,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. “From my first day in office, we’ve made battling trafficking a priority. The results are clear: Traffickers are being held accountable in Oakland County, and victims are getting help to escape cycles of abuse and manipulation.”
McDonald said this is the 34th human trafficking case charged by her office since organized training that happened in November 2024. She said it’s the 73rd since a specific human trafficking unit formed in 2021.
Only five such cases had been charged in Oakland County in the nine years before the formation of that unit, prosecutors said.