Ron Cassie - March The quiet year-old from Prince William County, Virginia, chafed under the strict control of her single mom. She had lived previously in Maryland and had friends in Washington, D. Melvin Douglas approached her as a friend, too—a potential boyfriend even. The third time that the year-old Douglas spotted her, they talked more. He offered to buy her a meal and a place to stay. He paid to get her nails and hair done, made her feel special, and told her that he cared about her.
She was still missing. He asked the Prince William Police Department if they minded if he looked into the case. Heid dialed the number and a young female voice answered. He asked if she had any time available.
He asked where she was. At a hotel? Heid called again when he got to College Park. With FBI agents hidden in position at the hotel, Heid, wearing a hoodie and jeans and sitting in an unmarked car, watched a man and another woman leave her room. She denied everything, including her real name. She became polite. She became a kid again.
The grooming process had lasted about three months, Heid continues. You owe me. She had one tattoo—Melvin, the name of her pimp. He took all the money she earned. Later, he told her the only way she was getting out was in a body bag. That Heid was able to locate and recover a year-old runaway and trafficking survivor so quickly is unusual. More unusual is that law enforcement officials elicited a guilty plea in federal court from Douglas.
What is common in Maryland, however, is the sex trafficking of women and minors. In , survivors of human trafficking came in contact with the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force. Of those, were victims of sex trafficking, including girls and women.
