Woman Held Captive, Forced Into Prostitution In Montgomery County

NORRISTOWN, PA — A pair of Georgia residents have been charged with holding a 21-year-old woman against her will and forcing her into prostitution in King of Prussia, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office alleges.

Kashamba John, 29, and Arianna Somerville, 27, both of Decatur, Georgia, will face charges for human trafficking, involuntary servitude, conspiracy, corruption, along with counts of prostitution and related offenses, authorities said.

“This is a horrendous case where a young woman was subjected to unconscionable treatment,” 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.

A lengthy investigation determined that John ran a human trafficking ring that had ties in several states around the country.

Bachtel met the victim at a nightclub in Los Angeles, where he recruited her to fly to the East Coast and 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 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, authorities said.

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

John had ordered an Uber 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.

The driver was able to flag down a state trooper, and the victim was rescued, police said.

An extended grand jury investigation gathered evidence against John for months, and pressed initial charges in July. Further charges were pressed in September as more evidence was gathered against John, Somerville, and Bechtel.

A preliminary hearing was held on Nov. 5 and John was remanded to prison on $1 million bail. Somerville was taken in on $50,000 bail.

Watch Now: Captive Woman Forced Into Prostitution Rescued

Patch file photo