Tacoma man charged with prositituting teen girl

A 15-year-old girl was raped and prostituted by a man in California before getting shipped to Tacoma where the same would happen to her, according to Pierce County prosecutors.

According to authorities, the girl was kidnapped by an acquaintance, only known as “Hollywood,” in California. She was raped by that man and forced to have sex with several other men at the time of the kidnapping.

“Hollywood” forced the girl to walk the streets of Stockton Boulevard, seeking prostitution dates and took nude photos of her used to solicit prostitution dates on redbook.com and backpage.com.

Pierce County prosecutors say that “Hollywood” told her if she tried to escape, he would kill her.

“When “Hollywood” was done with this victim in California he shipped her up here to a friend,” says Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “It’s that defendant we have charged.”

“Hollywood” took the victim to his friend in Tacoma, Tyler Elkins, 20, where they had arranged that she would start prostituting there, say prosecutors.

In a hotel room, “Hollywood” left the two, where Elkins allegedly threatened and raped the victim. According to prosecutors Elkins set up at least three “prostitution dates” and collected $600-$1,000.

The victim was able to escape on March 5, when Elkins took her to a nearby fast food restaurant. While he was in the bathroom, she escaped and called the police.

“These are brutally exploitative crimes and we aggressively prosecute them,” says Lindquist.

Elkins has plead not guilty.