ORLANDO, Fla. — A 23-year-old Orlando man was arrested on charges of human trafficking and 19 counts of child pornography, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation said.
Agents said Martin Wright III exploited teenage victims by “posting them on the Internet for commercial sex.”
Authorities said Wright had multiple child pornography images on his cellphone.
Investigations said they started working the case last month when a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old girl reported what was happening to school officials.
“We know in one instance, he provided a drug to a teenage girl, and then after she had lost consciousness and regained consciousness, he claimed to her he had had sex with her and that other people had had sex with her while she was unconscious,” said MBI Director Ron Stucker.
Court records said after Wright had sex with the victim, he forced her to take nude photos of herself so he could sell them for $500 apiece.
Stucker said Wright used a subtle approach with the young girls. Stucker said Wright developed relationships with them, and then manipulated the two into doing acts they weren't comfortable with.
Channel 9 learned that Wright would drive the girls to appointments at local homes and hotels where they would engage in sex acts. Authorities said Wright would take their money, give the girls drugs, and use physical abuse to control them.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings has a strong message for parents in regards to the crime.
“Parents, look at those cellphones. Look at the social media that your children are being involved in and it will probably be very, very telling to you,” he said.
Investigators said parents should also watch out to see if their high-school-age daughters are befriending older men, and said there could be multiple warning signs.
“That might be withdrawal. They’re not hanging out with friends they used to hang out with. It’s a new set of friends, changes in behavior,” said Stucker.
Stucker said investigators believe there could be more high-school-aged victims. He said human sex trafficking is an ongoing problem in Orange County.
Channel 9 was told that a struggle for law enforcement is that traffickers are able to market and advertise young girls by uploading pictures to the Internet.
“The number of websites that are for nothing except the commercial sex trade of adults and for prostitution that are out there, and that is very difficult to combat because there's no control over that,” said Stucker.
Wright's Facebook page showed he worked at a Pizza Hut, Family Dollar and a shoe store. Court records showed it was at one of those jobs that he asked a co-worker if she wanted to make extra money.
Documents showed Wright would pick up the 16-year-old victim from school or she’d have to sneak out of her parents' house to meet him.
When the 18-year-old tried to stop working for him, he set her car on fire, slashed her tires and put sugar in her gas tank, according to records.
Investigators found dozens of ads on Backpage.com promoting the teens, ads that they said Wright posted.
Wright is in the Orange County Jail without bail.
Cox Media Group
