Alexandria Man Charged in Stearns County for Alleged Sex Trafficking

(KNSI) – Bail has been set at $400,000 for a man police say is suspected of sex trafficking.

According to the criminal complaint, back in December, the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force posted an ad on a website known to promote prostitution. An investigator then made arrangements to meet with a woman at a hotel and “pay for sexual acts.” Investigators went to the hotel where they say they saw a man leaving at the same time. That man, police say, is 35 year old Michael Jamal Williams of Alexandria.

The investigator sent the woman a text message but said Williams was not there with her. Investigators say the woman checked in to that hotel earlier in the day, and Williams was seen with her on surveillance video. They also say they found text messages between Williams and the woman.

The task force obtained a search warrant and came back to find Williams in the hotel lobby and seized his phone.

The woman denied anything sexual was happening, claiming that she was earning money by meeting men to give them a massage, and that was the first time she and Williams had been at the hotel together. The woman’s phone was also seized.

During the investigation, several other men said they had met with the woman and paid for sexual acts. Police say she was featured in a number of ads on the website going back to at least August. Text messages and interviews revealed that the woman had been engaging in prostitution, but she insists she would only meet men for massages and that Williams didn’t know what she was doing. She admitted Williams would go with her to the hotels, but it was for medical reasons.

Hotel receipts show Williams had rented rooms, and bank records show a CashApp account mentioned in text messages setting up meetings between the woman and other men was used by Williams and was allegedly connected to his bank account.

The investigation was an attempt to rescue the woman from being trafficked. Help was offered to her, but she declined.

The investigation is ongoing.