A man who drove a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman to Chicago from Iowa last week forced them into prostitution but was caught after the girl’s parents saw photos posted on Facebook of the girl in a hotel robe and called Chicago police, prosecutors said.
Ferid Mahalbasic, 18, is being held in Cook County Jail on charges of involuntary servitude of a minor and involuntary servitude after being arrested on Saturday at a hotel in the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue, according to prosecutors and court records. Mahalbasic, of Waterloo, Iowa, had driven the girl and the woman from Iowa on Jan. 7, and forced the two to prostitute themselves after posting ads on Backpage.com, according to a news release Tuesday from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Mahlabasic drove the girl and the woman, who had no money with them, to the Chicago area in a car which his parents own, prosecutors said. Mahalbasic, who claimed to have used Backpage.com in the past to prostitute himself, told the two they should use Backpage also, to help pay for the trip, and all three agreed they would post ads offering sex for money, prosecutors said.
After they got to Chicago, the three eventually checked in at a motel in the 7600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, prosecutors said. Mahalbasic took photos of the two others and posted an ad on Backpage with wording and charges he came up with.
Over the next few days, Mahalbasic decided who the woman and girl would meet with, took all the money they brought in and gave them no money, prosecutors said. He paid for rooms at both motels, and paid for all meals for the three of them.
When the woman and the girl said they were afraid and did not want to act as prostitutes, Mahalbasic assaulted them and threatened to kick them out onto the streets, prosecutors said. He said that if they did not prostitute themselves, “he would leave them in Chicago without money or a ride,” according to the release. Mahalbasic also told the women he had come to Chicago previously with another girl, and after they had both sold sex through Backpage.com he had “exposed” her on Facebook, prosecutors said.
When the girl’s parents saw photos that Mahalbasic had posted on Facebook of the girl wearing a robe from Chicago hotel, they filed a missing person’s report and contacted Chicago Police, prosecutors said. The parents traced the girl’s cell phone to the hotel on Belmont, where police found the two victims and Mahalbasic and where he was arrested.
Mahalbasic appeared in Cook County Bond Court on Monday, and Criminal Court Judge James Brown ordered him held in lieu of $400,000 bail, according to prosecutors and court records. He is due back in court on Jan. 30.
In an unrelated case, Mahalbasic, of the 1300 block of Ravenwood Road in Waterloo, also was arrested at a Target in Evanston, 2209 W. Howard St., on Jan. 2 on a misdemeanor retail theft charge, and released on bond, according to police and court records. He’s due back in Skokie Branch Court on Jan. 26 in that case.
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