UPDATED, Aug. 30: A Providence man has been charged in the alleged kidnapping of a 17-year-old Arlington girl for the purpose of prostitution, The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
A statement from Peter F. Neronha, U.S. attorney for the District of Rhode Island, said Kemont Bowie, 34, allegedly took the girl from Boston’s South Station early Aug. 18 and drove her to a Pawtucket, R.I., home, where she was rescued Monday, Aug. 25, by FBI agents and police.
Bowie faces federal charges of sex trafficking of a child and transportation of a minor, he said, and a preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday, Sept. 2.
The Providence Journal’s website reported that Bowie is nicknamed “Daddy” and has a long criminal record in the Ocean State.
An affidavit supporting Bowie’s arrest said the girl had run away from a residential program in Massachusetts and ended up at South Station on Tuesday, where a man she knew as “King Justice” stole her money. Then, she said, he and two other men forced her into a vehicle, where Bowie and a woman nicknamed “Kitty” were waiting, the affidavit said.
She said they drove her to Pawtucket, leaving her alone for the night to baby-sit Kitty’s child, the affidavit said, and by the next day, Bowie began to put her to work.
The girl told authorities that he named her “Star” and had Kitty show her how to work as a prostitute. At first, they said she was too young to take calls from clients, and she was told to accompany Kitty as she went out and looked for johns, the affidavit said. The girl said Bowie assaulted the other woman when she declined offers.
The girl told authorities that Bowie picked up another young woman from Boston, named her “Daisy” and had the girl take her picture for backpage.com, for escort advertisements, the affidavit said.
On Monday, Aug. 25, she convinced the others to let her go for a run, the affidavit said. She took her cell phone and called a person at her residential program for help.
This story was published Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014, and updated Aug. 30.
