Police: Man beaten, robbed in sex scam
A man seeking sex with a prostitute got something else entirely when he arrived at the Apple Valley apartment where they had arranged to meet.
The man contacted Apple Valley police June 27 to report that once inside the apartment, he was beaten, forced to remove his clothes and robbed of his money and cellphone by three men.
According to criminal complaints filed against two of the alleged assailants, the man told police he had contacted the purported prostitute through an ad for sexual services on Backpage.com.
At the specified time, she met him at the front door and led him through the darkened apartment to the bedroom. He told her he was willing to give her a $100 bill, plus some $1 bills, for sex, but she simply walked out of the room.
It was then that three men entered the bedroom and started reaching in his pockets. They pushed him up against the wall and began viciously pummeling him with a barrage of punches and kicks, after which they ordered him to remove his shirt and shorts.
One of the three men had a knife, he reported to police. After they took his money and phone, the trio departed, telling him they would kill him if he left.
The man waited about 15 minutes, then escaped through a bedroom window.
Through an investigation, police located and arrested two of the men allegedly involved in the robbery – Kris L. Ewing, 22, and Abdoul S. Kone, 22, both of Apple Valley – as well as the female who’d arranged the bogus sex-for-hire encounter.
The apartment used for the alleged robberies is currently unoccupied, police learned from the apartment complex’s manager, though one of the unit’s past tenants is a known associate of Ewing.
The female, who is a juvenile, provided a statement to investigators that indicated the June 27 robbery wasn’t an isolated incident.
She told police that when men would contact her through the Backpage.com ad, she would tip off two of her male friends, who would go to the apartment and rob them.
Ewing and Kone have each been charged with one felony count of simple robbery. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Court records for the female implicated in the robbery are not publicly available because she’s a juvenile.
