Feds: California pimp used drug-addicted women from small Missouri town as prostitutes

Human trafficking charges have been filed against a California man who allegedly used drugs and violence to coerce Kansas City-area women into prostitution.

Ronald Ean Taylor is charged in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday with six counts of sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud or coercion and four counts of transporting a person across state lines for prostitution.

Also named in the indictment is 33-year-old Kimberly Anne Sanford, who allegedly worked as a prostitute but also assisted Taylor. She faces the same 10 charges as Taylor.

Taylor and Sanford worked together for about 12 years, according to a motion filed by prosecutors seeking to have her held without bond.

Victims told investigators that Sanford “trained” them on how to check for police, get ready for “dates,” and what to do on “dates.”

They also said that Sanford would report to Taylor on what the victims said and did, and Sanford told one victim about Taylor, “you don’t want to make him mad.”

The indictment was handed down in Kansas city last week, but was sealed until Monday after Taylor and Sanford had been arrested in other states.

Taylor was being held Monday in the Los Angeles County Jail, while Sanford was in custody in Nebraska.

According to previously filed court documents, the investigation began in June 2016 when a woman identified as V1 told Kansas City police that Taylor, 43, is a California pimp who sells drugs and employees prostitutes in the Kansas City area.

According to the court documents:

V1 told police that Taylor recruited girls from the Kearney area and that one her friends from Kearney who had also worked for Taylor died of a heroin overdose in California in 2015.

In May, V1 was interviewed by police in Hollywood and said Taylor targeted women with drug addictions, took them to California and showed them “an extravagant lifestyle.”

He would get them to work in strip clubs and work was prostitutes in California and Kansas City. He would use their drug addiction to keep them working for him, she said.

In December 2016, other officers spoke to a woman identified as V2, who like V1, is from Kearney. She said she met Taylor through V1 and told police that he provided her free drugs.

She told the officers that Taylor was often violent, and once broke a bottle over her head. She said that Taylor carried a gun and was always in the area when one of the women was on a “job.”

In January, officers spoke to V3, who said she worked as a prostitute for Taylor in the Kansas City area. She also said he was violent toward her and took all of the money she made from prostitution.

In April, police in Hollywood got a call from the mother of another woman from Kearney, identified as V4. Her mother told police that Taylor was holding V4 against her will. Police contacted V4, who left with a friend, but later went back to Taylor.

In May, V4 contacted police and told them she met Taylor through V2. He offered to take her to California so she could model for his clothing line.

While there, he gave her drugs and kept her “in a constant state of intoxication.”

After returning to the Kansas City area, Taylor encouraged her to come back to California. He told her she was “too pretty” for Kansas City and that he would take care of her.

When she returned to California, Taylor provided her with a steady supply of Oxycontin and discouraged her from having contact with her family. While there he introduced her to Sanford, who trained her how to work as a stripper.

After working for a short while as a stripper, Taylor and Sanford attempted to get V4 to work as a prostitute. He arranged for V4 and Sanford to fly to Kansas City to work together as prostitutes, but V4 got away from Sanford and returned to her family.

Another woman identified as V5 was interviewed by police earlier this year and described meeting Taylor in 2014. She and the woman who later died of a heroin overdose went to California, where Taylor gave them heroin to enticed them into prostitution.

She said she returned to the Kansas City area with Sanford. She said Taylor told her he would beat her if she didn’t start seeing clients. When she refused and locked herself in a hotel room bathroom, she said Taylor kicked the door open and slapped her face.

Later, when she needed money, V5 said she started working as a prostitute by herself.

Taylor found out where she was staying. He physically and sexually assaulted her, she told police.

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Feds: California pimp used drug-addicted women from small Missouri town as prostitutes."