Johnson County sheriff on human trafficking: 'We know it's an issue'

Although the human trafficking arrests that occurred in Iowa City this week were executed by federal agents and Illinois-based officers, local authorities know the problem well and view the sex trafficking of minors as a top priority.

“We know it's an issue,” Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said Wednesday. “We know it goes on and will continue to go on.”

In fact, Pulkrabek said, the primary aim of local law enforcement-run prostitution stings is to find and rescue minors who have been lured into the system and are being exploited.

“Prostitution stings are the only way to run interference on human trafficking,” Pulkrabek said. “The goal is to find underage people who have been extracted into that lifestyle.”

Pulkrabek didn't discuss details surrounding a pair of prostitution arrests in Iowa City on Monday related to the alleged sex trafficking on three underage girls in April. The FBI and Chicago-based authorities have been leading the investigation into an Iowa City brother and sister and an Ohio man accused of arraigning sexual encounters for a 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds in Iowa City and in Chicago earlier this year.

But, Pulkrabek said, the alleged facts in the case emulate circumstances that thousands of minors across the country enter into every year. The teens in this case were invited to hang out at an Iowa City house for several days, where they drank, smoked marijuana and took photos in lingerie and high heels before the activities escalated into prostitution, according to a criminal complaint.

“Young people are very easily influenced and things can be enticing to them – like money, drugs and alcohol,” Pulkrabek said. “But bad things happen when young people are easily influenced.”

A criminal complaint made public Tuesday accuses Malik McKee, 19, of arranging “dates” for the teens while they were staying at the Iowa City home of Willie Woods, 41, in early April. The minors told investigators that people would come over to have sex for money, and one of the girls reported calling McKee “daddy,” according to the complaint.

The teens reportedly gave the money they made to McKee, believing he was putting it into a bank account that they could access when they turned 18. When one of the girls talked about leaving, according to the complaint, McKee is accused of saying, “Naw, (expletive), you ain't going nowhere.”

The girls eventually were transported to Chicago, where the dates continued under the guidance of McKee and his sister Shuntina McKee, 23, according to investigators. The 14-year-old girl reported having a date daily for three weeks to a month, according to the complaint.

That girl escaped from her motel room on April 25 to call her mother and report that she was in Chicago being held against her will, according to the complaint. That phone call launched the investigation that led to the recent arrests.

Malik McKee and Shuntina McKee were arrested in Iowa City on Monday and waived detention Tuesday during an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Iowa in Davenport.

Woods was arrested Friday in Toledo, Ohio, and he waived his detention during his initial appearance on Monday, according to Megan Church, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Illinois.

Church said all three individuals are being moved Chicago, where they likely will be held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center. The transfer can take a few days, Church said.

No bond has been set in their cases, and they all will have the option of seeking a preliminary hearing to determine whether the charges are warranted. Their cases could eventually go to trial, but Church said federal cases can take a year or longer to prosecute.

All three face charges of conspiracy to transport minors across state lines to engage in prostitution. If convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison.

None of the suspects have significant criminal records in Iowa, according to online court records.

A Facebook page that appears to belong to Shuntina McKee lists her as a model for Mixed Media Models. On her page, McKee writes that Mixed Media Models is looking for “young women who have what it takes to work in the various aspects of the erotic entertainment industry.”

She asks for photo and video submissions and lists an email and phone number. No one answered at the phone number when a Gazette reporter called on Wednesday.

McKee is friends with a person named “Woods Willie” out of Toledo, Ohio. That person's Facebook page is filled with vulgar postings. Although he has been posting on the page several times a day recently, his page had no updates in April.

On Friday, the day he was arrested, Woods shared nine photos, most of which made sexual or vulgar references.