SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - A Two Rivers man is under arrest for allegedly forcing a girl into prostitution.
29-year-old Christopher Tipton faces one count of trafficking a child.
According to a criminal complaint, police got a call from the 14-year-old girl's mother after the girl went missing July 19. The mother got a text message from her daughter saying she might be in danger. More messages indicated that the girl was in Milwaukee, and she was returned to Sheboygan a few days later by her grandmother after the victim escaped and made it to the Milwaukee police department.
Police interviewed the victim, who told them that she'd been taken to Milwaukee two times by Tipton to perform sexual acts for payment. Police say Tipton's sister assisted, and put the victim's name and pictures up on a website known to be active in sex trade.
In further interviews, the victim told police that she'd been seeing Tipton for some time and that they'd been having sex. A search of her phone turned up lengthy text conversations between Tipton and the victim, talking about how much she loved him and how she didn't want to take part in having sex with other people but that she would "just for us." She also told police that Tipton had travelled to Colorado to bail out two other girls who had been caught for prostitution.
Police went to question Tipton and say he denied the allegations, and instead said he'd picked the victim up twice from Milwaukee because she said she was in trouble. Officers also say at first denied having sex with the victim, but then recanted that and admitted to having intercourse. He denied ever putting the victim up to prostitution.
Tipton is being held on a $10,000 cash bond and will be back in court next week for a preliminary hearing.