Lakeisha Curington is Third Charged with Pimping Handicapped Woman

[Darcy Delaproser]

http://bit.ly/kVLAAM

Sun-Times Media Wire

Chicago - Bond was set at $250,000 on Wednesday for a South Side woman, the third person charged with forcing a mentally disabled woman to perform acts of prostitution while being held against her will for four days last month.
Lakeisha Curington, 22, of the 8200 block of South Buffalo Avenue is charged with one count each of involuntary servitude and trafficking persons for forced labors or services, both Class X felonies, Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.
Curington was ordered held on $250,000 bond Wednesday and a preliminary hearing was set for July 20, Simonton said.
Curington is the third to be charged in the case. Chester Nelson, 36, of the 1700 block West Albion Street was arrested June 10 and charged with involuntary servitude. And on June 23 , Carlos Mitchell, 34, of 1900 South 21st Street in Maywood, was also charged with involuntary servitude, state's attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin said.
The crime happened from June 6-10, prosecutors allege. The 20-year-old Crystal Lake woman was in Chicago visiting a friend when Mitchell picked her up, according to prosecutors, who said she is mentally handicapped with the mental capacity of a 12-year-old.
Mitchell took her to a hotel and demanded she strip, but she refused. She wanted to go home, but Mitchell told her she couldn't leave until she made him some money, prosecutors claim.
He then took her to another hotel at 92nd and Stony Island Avenue, where Curington, his girlfriend and allegedly a prostitute, had her set up a party line message. But no one came to the hotel room for sex that night, prosecutors said.
The next morning, Mitchell and Curington ordered her to stand naked in the hotel room for two hours. Nelson later arrived at the hotel to pimp out girls, and arranged for the victim to have sex with two men.
At some point, the woman told someone she was being held against her will. That person gave her a bus pass, but Nelson took it away, court records said.
Nelson was arrested June 10 after the victim was able to call her father and tell him what happened. The woman then jumped out of Mitchell's car when she saw police and flagged them down.
Police located Mitchell on June 22 and he was tackled and subdued after a brief chase. A police officer suffered a shoulder injury during the struggle, court records indicate.
Mitchell was identified by the victim and other witnesses, including Nelson, prosecutors said. Curington was identified by both the victim and the witness in a photo array, court records indicate. She has no criminal history.