Maryland-based rapper charged with forcing woman into prostitution in Florida
A Maryland-based rapper, who allegedly forced a 23-year-old woman into prostitution and had his logo tattooed to her upper body as a sign of his dominance over her, has been charged with human trafficking in southern Florida.
According to the Miami-Dade State Attorney Office, Monriko Mequel Clements, 31, known as the rapper King Swuice, met his victim through the Tinder app last spring and, for their first date, invited her to see his act at a strip club in Baltimore. Neither the club nor the alleged victim was identified in the warrant issued last month for Clements’ arrest; the warrant referred to the victim only by the initials M.C.
The warrant says Clements, who resides in Montgomery County, and M.C. began a relationship that, within weeks, turned into pimp and prostitute, with Clements posting photographs of the woman on a website and advertising her services for sex. He also supplied M.C. with cocaine and had his rapper name tattooed on the woman’s chest “as a sign of his possession over her,” according to the warrant.
It is not clear from the document why Clements and M.C. traveled to Florida, but they ended up there in November. By then, Clements had become physically abusive of M.C.
The woman told investigators that Clements threatened to kill her after she called her family in Maryland to say she was in danger. Clements beat the woman as he was driving to Miami Beach, she said, so she jumped out of his SUV when it slowed in heavy traffic and screamed for help.
The investigation that followed revealed that Clements had made approximately $20,000 over roughly six months by forcing M.C. into prostitution. Clements kept all of the money, according to the arrest warrant.
Clements, who was arrested in Howard County in mid-December, is being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, according to the Miami Herald. As of Monday, no defense attorney had been listed for Clements in online records.
