A man & woman drugged a runaway and forced girl to have sex at MS Coast hotels, cops say
A Mississippi man and woman are facing felony charges for allegedly drugging a 14-year-old girl and trafficking her to men for sex at Coast hotels, according to authorities.
So far, Harrison County sheriff’s deputies have arrested one of the two suspects, identified as Jasmine Lynn Marie Drake, 29, of Long Beach, in custody. She is being held on a felony charge of procuring sexual servitude of a minor, a charge that carries a sentence of anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.
A second suspect, identified as Malick “KP” Causey of Pass Christian, is at large, though authorities said U.S. Marshals are in the process of tracking him down.
On Thursday, details about the alleged crimes came during Drake’s preliminary hearing before Justice Court Judge Brandon Ladner.
Harrison County prosecuting attorney Herman Cox questioned sheriff’s investigator Tyler Hailey about what authorities had found so far in their investigation.
Hailey said Harrison County deputies started investigating after responding to a report of a runaway at the Long Beach home Drake shared with her mother.
When deputies arrived, Hailey said the girl said she had been the victim of human trafficking and later identified both Drake and Causey as the suspects.
The girl had been missing since mid-July.
She disappeared, Hailey said, when she was on her way to a court-ordered mental health facility for treatment. On the way there, “she somehow ran away,” he said.
When sheriff’s deputies found the girl, Hailey said she was in bad shape.
The girl, he said, had been forcefully given intravenous narcotics during her time with Causey and Drake.
Teen forced to have sex at Coast casino, hotels, police say
The first time it happened, he said, was when she said she was taken to a Quality Inn & Suites in Gulfport, where a man allegedly raped her the same day Drake first picked her up in Ocean Springs.
The girl said the same thing occurred when she was forced to have sex with other men at other hotels, including at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel and the IP Casino Resort, both in Biloxi, and at a Super 8 motel in Gulfport,
As a result, Hailey said, the girl “was so full of narcotics (that) we had to take her to detox.”
“She had to be sedated and went through about 11 days of detox,” he said.
After authorities found the girl, she told them she had tried to escape but was severely beaten when she did.
The investigators found new information to back up the allegations after extracting over 2,000 files from the girl’s iPhone. He said authorities were able to get the information despite the suspects deleting any messages in texts or on social media from the phone the girl had been using.
In addition, he said that authorities found a ledger that Drake on which girl was working for them and when.
However, attorney Ron Perisich Jr. said the ledgers did not include the girl’s name. In addition, he said, authorities did not find any evidence in any messages they retrieved that indicated “she (Drake) was going to pay for sexual acts.”
Perisich also pointed out that Drake had no arrest record other than a traffic citation. He argued the case against Drake should be dismissed for lack of evidence.
Judge Ladner found sufficient evidence to bind the case over to a grand jury for indictment.
Drake remains jailed on a $450,000 bond.
Meanwhile, the search for Causey is ongoing.
To report information, call the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department at 228-896-0678 or Mississippi Coast Crimestoppers at 877-787-5898.
