Woman faces new charges in alleged human trafficking of teen at Raleigh motel

A woman who pleaded guilty last year to charges connected with an alleged human trafficking incident at a South Raleigh motel faces new charges in the same case.

Armani Andrade, 20, was accused of using her sister’s first name, last name and Social Security number to avoid charges. She was also accused of resisting a public officer and keeping a 17-year-old at the Days Inn on South Wilmington Street so she would participate in prostitution, court documents say.

Andrade’s charges in June 2019 included identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, promoting prostitution and resisting a public officer.

She pleaded guilty in October 2019 to promoting prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. The identity theft and resisting a public officer charges were dropped.

She was arrested again Tuesday, this time on charges of human trafficking of a child victim, sexual servitude of a child victim and promoting prostitution of a minor in relation to the same incident.

Human trafficking in North Carolina

The N.C. Department of Administration describes sex trafficking, a form of human trafficking, as a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud or coercion or when the person induced to perform the sex act is not 18 years old. It does not necessarily involve transporting a person from one place to another.

There have been five human trafficking incidents reported at the South Raleigh Days Inn since 2016, according to Raleigh’s police incident reporting database. A man was arrested and charged with the human trafficking of an adult victim in 2016. He allegedly sold a woman for sex at the Days Inn until she was able to text a friend who called authorities, WRAL reported.

National Human Trafficking Hotline statistics show North Carolina had 287 human trafficking cases in 2018, the 10th highest number of reported cases in the country. California had the highest number of cases with 1,656 while Texas had the second highest in the country with 1,000 cases.

The North Carolina state legislature voted unanimously to revamp the state’s sexual abuse and sex trafficking laws in December. North Carolina schools are now required to train educators to report and prevent child sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Another law says it’s a class A misdemeanor if a person 18 or older doesn’t report a child being sexually or physically abused if he or she suspects it.

More charged in alleged trafficking case

Three more people were arrested in December and January in connection with the human trafficking incident.

Lorenza Jenkins, 31, was arrested in Charlotte on Dec. 23 and is being held in Wake County Detention Center under $208,000 bail for human trafficking of a 17-year-old, sexual servitude of a 17-year-old and multiple failure to appear charges.

Joshua Scott, 21, arrested Dec. 30, and Vincent Morton, 24, arrested Jan. 2, have the same charges and are each being held on $1 million bail.

When Andrade was first arrested June 2019, her bail release order called her a flight risk, homeless and a suspect in a human trafficking case. It also said she sometimes stays with her sister and that she used her sister’s name to avoid charges.

The document also said Andrade told police she travels as an entertainer. Her release order forbids contact with the alleged victim.

Andrade is being held at Wake County Detention Center on $1 million bail.

Individuals who are the victims of human trafficking or believe they have information about human trafficking activity may call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or send a text message to BeFree (233733).

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 2:39 PM.