Mikah D’Shawn Reese
SANTA BARBARA — The recent spate of Hollywood sex scandals plastered across all manner of media may not seem relevant to the average citizen who has never harbored dreams of show business stardom, but the October 23rd arrest of 20-year-old North Highlands, California resident Mikah D’Shawn Reese points to the ubiquity of sex crimes throughout contemporary American culture.
According to Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department spokesman Kelly Hoover, Reese was contacted by law enforcement pursuant to suspicions of an “underage female being trafficked within Santa Barbara’s city limits.”
Detectives learned that Reese and the suspected female were residing at an area motel when they pursued contact through an online website offering “escort” services.
In making a call to the phone number offered in the online ad, detectives posed as prospective clients and “negotiated a sex act in exchange for money,” with the transaction planned to take place at “another hotel in the Goleta area.”
When the female arrived at the motel where she expected to provide certain services, the was promptly detained by deputies and determined to be 18 years of age.
While she was so detained, a search warrant was served on her residence motel room in Santa Barbara where Reese found himself facing guns and badges and was quickly determined to have been pimping and pandering for his female associate. He was summarily arrested and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of pimping with his bail set at $200,000.
Reese’s female cohort was provided “the services of a specially trained human trafficking advocate and was released pursuant to a citation for solicitation of prostitution.”
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
