Wichita woman sex trafficked Kansas teen who was missing for years, prosecutors say
A federal jury in Nebraska has convicted a Wichita woman of participating in the sex trafficking of a Kansas teenager who had been missing for years when she was found at a Nebraska Walmart in 2022.
Joan Robinson, 35, of Wichita, was found guilty on Sept. 27 of one count of transportation of a minor for prostitution, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska. She faces a prison term of at least 10 years and a maximum of life when she is sentenced on Jan. 9.
Robinson’s co-defendants, Khalah Beard and Alexas Davis, also face the possibility of a life sentence, the release says. Each pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor and are scheduled for sentencing in December and January.
Prosecutors say authorities began investigating whether the girl was a victim of sex trafficking after she and Beard were stopped for shoplifting at a Walmart in Omaha, Nebraska, on Nov. 16, 2022. The girl “was identified as a missing minor who was a ward of the state of Kansas,” the release says.
She was 17 at the time and “had been missing for years,” according to the release.
Investigators discovered that Robinson and the others drove the girl from Wichita to Omaha on Nov. 12, 2022, so the girl, Beard and Davis “could engage in prostitution.” They checked into adjoining hotel rooms in Omaha using Robinson’s Priceline account, then used photos of the teen girl to advertise her online for sex, according to the news release.
Prosecutors say Davis was in an intimate relationship with Robinson, kept tabs on the girl’s meetings, and was supposed to make sure Robinson got half the money the girl and Beard earned. When Robinson found out she wasn’t being given the amount she expected, she and Davis “abandoned (the girl) ... and Beard in Omaha,” the news release says.
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a 2006 U.S. Justice Department initiative aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse, according to the news release.
This story was originally published October 7, 2024 at 5:46 PM.
