Alleged Pimp Snuck Out Restaurant to Elude Arrest: Police

HOWARD COUNTY, MD – Authorities are asking for help finding a man they say is suspected in human trafficking involving a juvenile in Howard County.

Nathaniel Lee Thompson, 28, of Delaware, was identified as the pimp of a 17-year-old who undercover Howard County detectives arranged to meet for sex in a hotel room as part of an investigation, according to a statement from police.

Officers watched a Cadillac drop off the girl at the hotel for the “date,” and after agreeing to the exchange of sexual services for payment and subsequently identifying themselves as law enforcement, officers verified the man and woman in the vehicle had been prostituting the girl, who they learned was a minor, the statement said.

When they approached the Cadillac in a nearby restaurant parking lot, officers said Thompson was not in there.

Restaurant employees told authorities he was inside the business and slipped out the back, according to police.

Officers said they found a woman lying down in the backseat of the Cadillac.

Janice Figueroa, 19—who police allege is Thompson’s partner in crime—has been charged with multiple counts of human trafficking and prostitution, police said. She is being held on $1 million bond at the Howard County Detention Center, according to police.

Figueroa has lived in New Jersey but is transient, and authorities said she was operating out of Delaware.

“Detectives learned that the 17-year-old victim was being brought from Delaware to Maryland and Virginia by Figueroa and Thompson for the purposes of prostitution,” police said in a statement. “They were taking a significant portion of any money the girl earned.”

Police said the teen was placed with child protective services and will be reunited with her family.

Anyone with information regarding Nathaniel Lee Thompson or human trafficking in Howard County may contact 410-313-STOP or email HCPDcrimetips@howardcountymd.gov.

Photo Credit: Howard County Police Department.