She was kidnapped in N.C., forced into prostitution in Miami. Now, trio faced charges

A North Carolina women forced into prostitution was trapped in a car while her ex-boyfriend choked her in a Miami Beach parking lot, police say. When she found an opportunity to escape, she ran to the first police car she saw.

Prosecutors say her cry for help kick-started an investigation into a string of crimes stretching from North Carolina to Atlanta to a Starbucks on Alton Road last month.

On Thursday, twin brothers Jamil and Jaleel Graves, 25, and China Montice Blount, 20, were charged with several felonies including kidnapping, supporting themselves from prostitution money, unlawful use of a communications device, grand theft auto and human trafficking. They are being held in a Miami jail without bond, said Miami-Dade state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle at a press conference Friday afternoon.

The story began in mid-May in North Carolina when Jamil Graves went to the woman’s grandmother’s house with his brother and Blount, according to an arrest report. Jamil Graves’ asked the 20-year-old victim, who is his ex-girlfriend, to drive with him to the courthouse. She reluctantly agreed and got in the car, police said.

But instead of going to court, Jaleel Graves began driving to Atlanta and Jamil Graves cut off his ankle monitor, the report said. When they got to Atlanta, Jamil allegedly told the woman he wanted her to prostitute herself so they could pay for a hotel room. She refused, so the twins and Blount drove her to Miami in a stolen car to prevent her from running away, Rundle said.

They got a hotel room in Miami Springs to sleep and would go to Miami Beach during the day to find people to purchase sex with the victim, Rundle said. The defendants posted an ad of the victim on “classified hookup” site megapersonals.com, the same website Jaleel Graves used to post ads of Blount, according to the report.

The report also said Blount encouraged the victim to do prostitution even though Jamil would keep the money. Jamil made arrangements to sell the victim for sex and would hurt her anytime she refused, Rundle said.

On May 30, they were at a Starbucks on 16th Street and Alton Road when the victim and Jamil began arguing. They continued to argue in a car in a nearby parking lot when Jamil began choking her, Rundle said. He told her, “B****, I’m going to kill you before I go back to jail.”

When Jaleel tried to calm him down, the twins began yelling at each other. That’s when the victim kicked the car door open and ran to a Miami Beach police officer, Rundle said.

“And that was the beginning of her freedom,” Rundle said. “That was the beginning of the end of her torturous journey from North Carolina to Miami.”

The Graves twins and Blount, who all had warrants in North Carolina, were arrested at the Miami Springs Inn later that day, Rundle said. Prosecutors want the Graves twins and Blount sentenced to life in prison.

Rundle praised the investigation a success of the State Attorney’s Office’s Human Trafficking Task Force’s mission to put human traffickers behind bars and help victims. Florida is ranked third in the country for human trafficking cases, she said.

“Human trafficking is not going to be tolerated in this community at all,” Rundle said.

This story was originally published June 21, 2019 at 6:09 PM.