Teen sold into sex slavery escapes captor in Redford

REDFORD TWP., Mich. (WJBK) - A man is facing charges for allegedly kidnapping and pimping a 15-year-old girl who ran away from home.

According to sworn testimony from an FBI task force officer, Malik McCaster forced the girl to have sex with men at the Gemini Motel on Plymouth Road in Redford Township.

"The motel over there get(s) all kinds of derelicts there all the time," says neighbor Bill Wilkinson. "I am not really surprised."

Investigators say it all began at the Warren fireworks show, where the runaway from Sanilac County met McCaster through a mutual friend. She asked him for a ride home and McCaster obliged. But investigators say he held the teen against her will and forced her to perform sex acts on him - sex acts that he recorded.

They say he posted pictures of the teen on Craigslist advertising "sex date," and he allegedly used his cell phone to arrange the forced trysts at the motel.

According to the FBI officer's testimony, the girl was able to get away from McCaster while she was at the motel. She ran to a nearby room and pleaded with the person inside to help her.

Redford police arrested McCaster and a man named Aaron Gist a short time later. McCaster was arraigned on Wednesday. He was charged with sex trafficking, possession of child pornography and production of child pornography.

FOX 2 went to the motel's front office and the man behind the counter claimed he didn't work there and that he knew nothing about the teenager who was forced to sell her body.

"It's very prevalent here. This is happening everywhere in every state and every county," says Tricia Schuster, from Care House of Oakland County. "It doesn't matter if it's an affluent area or a city area. It doesn't matter, this is happening everywhere."

Care House of Oakland County is an organization that helps and advocates for abused children. She says there are warning signs that suggest your child may be in contact with a predator.

"If you see your child starting to change behavior," she says. "If you start to see them keeping secrets more. If they are on social media a lot but you don't know who they are communicating with. If you go onto their social media pages and there a lot of people you don't know and they don't want to show them to you. And that is something you want to keep an eye out for."

Rick Haley lives across the street from the Gemini Motel and is keeping an eye on things there.

"We all the time see people going in and out," he says. "The other day I saw two 15- or 16-year-olds. I think they were hookers."

He went on to say that one of those young ladies was crying when she walked out of that motel. FOX 2 called Redford police after that interview and they will be looking into it.

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center: 1-888-373-7888.

SMS: 233733 (Text HELP or INFO). Website: https://humantraffickinghotline.org/