A prison fence
Representation. A prison fence. phtorxp/Pixabay

KEY POINTS

  • The suspect started communicating with the teen on Jan. 22 through Instagram
  • He allegedly took her phone and told her she'd need to earn it back by turning tricks after he brought her to his home
  • The suspect has a criminal record dating back to 2016

A 32-year-old man in New York City allegedly kidnapped a 14-year-old girl and forced her to be a prostitute by using violence and threats.

Justin Dixon, an alleged Crips member, is accused of forcing the teenager and at least two other women to live naked in a Staten Island house with him and driving them to a stretch of road in Brooklyn to have sex for pay, the New York Daily News reported, citing federal prosecutors.

He allegedly forced the teen and the women to clean the house, cook for him and even bathe him.

Dixon started communicating with the teen on Jan. 22 through Instagram. Later on, he picked her up and brought her to the Staten Island house in New Springville, a block away from the Staten Island Mall, prosecutors alleged.

He allegedly confiscated her phone and told her she'd need to earn it back by working as a prostitute, according to a criminal complaint.

According to the authorities, Dixon allegedly took the victim every night to the "Penn Track," a strip of road off Pennsylvania Avenue where the teen would perform sex acts on individuals in exchange for cash and give Dixon the money she earned, SILive.com reported.

"You're going to put those high heels on," he once told the teen, while allegedly threatening her with a gun, according to the complaint.

He would call his teen victim, who's identified in court filings as "Jane Doe," tiny, and attempted to make her gain some weight, prosecutors said.

"Dixon constantly overfed Jane Doe and consistently told her that she needed to eat more, in order to look older than her current age," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lorena Michelen wrote in a Monday memo requesting Dixon be held without bail. "The defendant also told Jane Doe that he was arranging a trip to Florida with Jane Doe and that he wanted to arrange plastic surgery for Jane Doe, including breast implants, in order to make her appear older than her current age."

Dixon also plied her with pills to increase her appetite, the prosecutor added.

He allegedly got in touch with his victims through social media, grooming them by expressing a romantic interest, then immediately setting his trap. He allegedly manipulated them into working as prostitutes and "effectively enslaved them through acts of force and coercion," Michelen wrote.

Police went to the house on Jan. 26 and arrested Dixon on state kidnapping and promoting prostitution charges.

While searching, officers discovered one of the two guns Dixon used inside his car, federal prosecutors said.

Dixon has a criminal record dating back to 2016, including multiple weapon possession convictions.

Dixon was ordered held without bail by a Brooklyn Federal Court magistrate judge Monday. He was arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court on charges of sex trafficking a minor.

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Representation. Jehovah's Witnesses members in Russia, who numbered an estimated 170,000, have reportedly been subjected to raids and arrests, among other things, since the religion's activities were banned in the country in 2017. falco/Pixabay