Three More Arrests Made in Human Trafficking Case

Detectives with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office were called out to a motel on North Martin Luther King Highway in Lake Charles on March 21, in reference to the possible location of a 14-year-old female who had been reported a runaway. Detectives located the girl in a room, along with Mariah C. Miller, 24, of Iowa, and learned she was a victim of sex trafficking since January 2019.

The victim had been beaten and forced to have sexual intercourse with multiple men. Miller and 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. Also, Antonio D. Tompkins, 25, of Lake Charles, was identified as someone the girl was forced to have sex with.

Warrants were signed and issued for all four suspects. Miller, Citizen, and Tompkins were already in 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; 1st-degree rape; and felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile with a bond of $2million. Tompkins is charged with felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile with a bond of $250,000. Landry was arrested and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center and charged with trafficking of juveniles for sexual purposes with a bond of $250,000.

Further investigation, three more men the victim was forced to have sex with have been arrested: Jason D. Bryant, 19, 2530 Dewey Street, Tyler D. Lawson, 26, 1741 O’Brien Street, and Kelly Johnson, Jr., 27, 2009 Medora Street, all of Lake Charles. Between June 19 and 20 all three men were arrested and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center.

Bryant and Lawson are charged with felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and Johnson is charged with 1st-degree rape. Bryant’s bond is set at $1.5 million; Lawson’s bond at $250,000; and Johnson’s bond at $2 million.

More arrests and charges are possible as the investigation continues.