LAKE CHARLES, La. (KLFY)- Several suspects, including a motel manager, are facing charges in an ongoing investigation into the trafficking of a 14-year-old girl.
Authorities believe the victim had been trafficked since January, 2019.
The investigation began on March 21 when Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives were dispatched to a motel on North Martin Luther King Highway in Lake Charles in reference to a possible location of a 14 year old girl who had been reported as a runaway.
When detectives arrived at the motel they located the girl in a room, who stated she had been a victim of sex trafficking since January 2019. The victim advised detectives she had been beaten and forced to have sexual intercourse with numerous men.
On March 21 C. During further investigation detectives learned Mariah C. Miller, 24, 216 S. Bowers Street, Iowa, whom the victim was found with in the motel, along with an acquaintance of the victim, Kaleb A. Citizen, 21, of Lake Charles, and Darius P. Landry, 28, Lake Charles, who was the victim’s guardian and family member, were responsible for trafficking the girl.
Miller and Citizen were both booked at the Calcasieu Correctional Center on unrelated charges. Miller is charged with human trafficking with a bond of $250,000. Citizen is charged with human trafficking; first degree rape; and felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile with a bond of $2 million.
Landry was arrested on June 17 and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center and charged with trafficking of juveniles for sexual purposes with a bond of $250,000.
During further investigation detectives learned of another suspect, Mayur K. Patel, 39, Houston, that was responsible for trafficking the victim for sex at the motel where she was found, which Patel managed.
Detectives also learned Patel had sexual intercourse with victim. On July 19 Judge Michael Canaday signed a warrant for Patel’s arrest to be held with no bond for human trafficking and felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile.
On July 26 he was located in Houston and extradited back to the Calcasieu Correctional Center and booked in.
The investigation is continuing and more arrests and charges are possible, authorities said.
