Prostitution investigation leads to human trafficking charges

June 29, 2010

A man who allegedly forced an 18-year-old girl to engage in prostitution has been charged with human trafficking and pandering, according to Santa Barbara Police Lt. Paul McCaffrey.

On June 25, a Nebraska woman called Santa Barbara Police to report her daughter had been kidnapped and was to be sold into prostitution. The daughter had told her mother she was at a motel on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, being held against her will and forced to engage in prostitution.

While police verified the 18-year-old and two others had stayed at the hotel, the trio had checked out an hour before police arrived and drove away in a newer white Cadillac with Oklahoma plates, police said. The information was broadcast to local law enforcement agencies.

A few hours later, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff deputies spotted the Cadillac on State Highway 1 near Morro Bay. They discovered the 18-year-old, another woman, Patrick Boughton, 20, and guns and drugs in the car.

Boughton allegedly used threats, coercion and physical abuse to force the 18-year-old woman to engage in prostitution and prevent her from fleeing.

Detectives are investigating if the second woman was involved in the criminal activities.

Boughton was booked into county jail and is being held on $100,000 bail.