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(Updated) Suspected Pimp Arrested After Trafficking Teens From Portland to Seattle

A 30-year-old suspected pimp thought he was in for a big payday when he loaded three teenage girls into a van and drove them from Portland to a Seattle hotel Monday. The man believed he’d made a deal with a john, who had offered to pay a large sum for an overnight rendezvous with one of the teens.

But when the 30-year-old arrived at the hotel, he was greeted not by a john, but by a team SPD’s Vice/High-Risk Victims Unit detectives, who arrested him as part of a human trafficking investigation.

Seattle police began investigating the 30-year-old Monday after the 17-year-old girl–who was reported missing in Seattle in mid-March–contacted a friend and said she was with the 30-year-old. The friend contacted police, who in turn contacted SPD Vice/High-Risk Victims Unit. Detectives were able to contact the 30-year-old, who agreed to bring the teen to Seattle Monday.

After arresting the suspect at the hotel just before midnight, detectives went to the hotel parking lot to check the suspect’s van for other evidence, and found two other girls–15 and 16 years-old inside the vehicle.

Detectives released the 15 and 16-year-olds to their families and booked the 17-year-old into the King County Youth Service Center after discovering she had a warrant. Police also booked the 30-year-old man into the King County Jail for Investigation of Sexual Exploitation of a Child and a DUI warrant.