Decatur Residents Ran Human Trafficking Ring: Prosecutors

NORRISTOWN, PA — A pair of Decatur residents have been charged in Pennsylvania with holding a 21-year-old woman against her will and forcing her into prostitution. Kashamba John, 29, and Arianna Somerville, 27, will stand trial for human trafficking, involuntary servitude, conspiracy and corruption, along with counts of prostitution and related offenses, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office announced Sunday.

"This is a horrendous case where a young woman was subjected to unconscionable treatment," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office is leading the prosecution, said in a statement.

A third suspect, Tyler Bachtel, worked closely with John and Somerville and remains a fugitive, authorities said.

A Pennsylvania grand jury determined that John ran a human trafficking ring that had ties to several states around the country, the attorney general's office said in the statement. The grand jury received evidence for several months from a joint investigation conducted by the attorney general's office, the Pennsylvania State Police, the U.S. Homeland Security Department and police in Upper Merion Township, Pa.

The grand jury pressed initial charges in July and further charges in September as more evidence was gathered against John, Somerville and Bechtel.

In a preliminary hearing on Sunday, John was remanded to prison on $1 million bail, according to the attorney general's office. Somerville was taken in on $50,000 bail.

Sent To Atlanta

The 21-year-old victim was lured from California to the East Coast with false promises of easy money, say prosecutors. Bachtel met the victim at a nightclub in Los Angeles, where he recruited her to work as an escort in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, police said.

In Atlanta, the victim met John, and she was immediately forced into having sex in hotel rooms with as many as 30 men per day, according to authorities. She frequently worked from 8 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., while John took all of her belongings, including her identification. John also pocketed all of the money the victim earned through prostitution, police said.

Somerville, known to the victim as "Amy," worked as a liaison, arranging for men to meet the victim through ads on the online publication Backpage.

John and the victim flew from Atlanta to Philadelphia on Oct. 5, 2016, and at that point the victim began prostituting at a hotel in King of Prussia, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, authorities said.

The victim never had a chance to escape until months later.

John had ordered an Uber ride from King of Prussia to Philadelphia for one of the victim's dates. But once inside the car, the victim broke down and told the Uber driver she was a "victim of human trafficking," and that she wanted to go to the police, prosecutors said.

The driver then flagged down a Pennsylvania state trooper, and the victim was rescued, police said.

Patch Editor Justin Heize contributed to this story.

Image: Shutterstock