Wichita man exploited teen runaway who sold sex online, cops say. He’s going to prison
A 42-year-old Wichita man will serve 8 years, 4 months in prison for sexually exploiting and battering a teenage runaway in 2020. Court records suggest he was her pimp and tried to keep her from testifying in court about his crimes.
Sedgwick County District Judge Seth Rundle sentenced 42-year-old Carib Q. Walker earlier this month in two cases related to his interactions with the girl when she was 16 and 17 years old. He was convicted after entering a plea in May 2021 to two amended counts of sexual exploitation of a child, which are both felonies, and one misdemeanor count of battery, court records show. He plans to file an appeal.
Court records say Walker for months knew the girl was a runaway, ignored warnings from authorities to stop contacting her and had her living with him. The girl told authorities Walker took the money she earned from performing sex acts on so-called “dates” advertised online and that Walker called her derogatory names and slapped and punched her head with his fist after becoming upset over “some things” he saw on her phone.
A pair of July 22, 2020, calls to 911 recorded the girl telling Walker to “stop” and to “leave me the (expletive) alone,” court records say. She also told him on the calls “you’re 40 years old and I’m 17” and argued that all he does is “hit her,” according to the records.
Prosecutors initially charged Walker with aggravated human trafficking, contributing to a child’s misconduct, battery and several counts of violating a protective order over his interactions with the girl.
But some of the charges were amended and others were dropped as part of his plea deal, which was finalized in the months after the girl told a police detective and a prosecutor that “she was scared of retaliation if she testified” against Walker and that Walker “had people contacting her” and “would not go down ‘without a fight,’” court records show.
Walker, she told the prosecutor and detective, believed in “no face no case,” meaning if a victim didn’t show up in court, criminal charges would be dropped.
