Two women are facing child trafficking charges after police rescued a teenaged girl from a Kenner motel.
According to our partners at NOLA.com, Jazmin McKinnie and Cora Beuving pleaded not guilty in a Jefferson Parish court last week.
Investigators accuse McKinnie, 31, of Mount Claire, Louisiana, and Beuving, 26, of Scappoose, Oregon, of colluding with a man to have the 15-year-old victim prostitute herself. According to a Kenner police detective's testimony, the women and the male accomplice texted each other about plans to teach the teen "how to work Bourbon Street." The detective also said Beuving and the man helped the teen post advertisements for sex online. Those ads, the detective said, included the girl's photo.
According to the NOLA.com report, the Kenner detective testified that her agency was able to make the rescue after they received a tip from federal authorities that the 15-year-old was staying at a motel on Williams Boulevard. Motel management, the detective said, confirmed to authorities that the teen was staying at the motel with a man and two women. Investigators later saw McKinnie pull up to the hotel with the teen.
The detective reportedly told the court Beuving claimed she did not know the girl was 15. That, the detective said, is backed up by conversations McKinnie and the unnamed male accomplice, in which the man told McKinnie the teen was in her 20s.
McKinnie and Beuving remain in the Jefferson Parish Jail in Gretna on bonds of $250,000 and $255,000 respectively. Beuving is also facing a meth possession charge.
The male accomplice has not yet been arrested.
To read NOLA.com's report, click here.
