Man said to rob, beat female escorts

A Lima man who police say robbed and beat two female escorts he contacted to engage in sexual activity for hire was arraigned Friday in Allen County Common Pleas Court.

The Lima News reports Anthony Prince Sr., 38, entered pleas of not guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of kidnapping.

According Lima police Detective Steve Stechschulte, at about 2:30 a.m. July 23 a 36-year-old white female, who had posted an advertisement on an internet site offering sex for hire, arrived at a location on North Main Street to meet a man. The woman told police that after arriving at the address, the man approached her from across the street, grabbed her by the hair and throat and attempted to drag her to the rear of the residence.

As the two struggled, the woman said, the man later identified as Prince threatened to kill her and then cut her neck with either an object or his fingernail. The man attempted to steal the woman’s purse, at which point she screamed loudly to summon someone waiting for her in a car parked nearby. The man fled on foot.

A week later, an almost identical incident occurred, police say, when an unknown white male lured a female escort into a different home on North Main Street for the purpose of sexual activity for hire. The woman told police he assaulted her and attempted to rob her during the encounter.

An investigation into the incidents led police to identify Prince as a possible suspect, and both victims made a positive identification of him in a photo lineup.

In court records, Prince confessed to luring the two females to the home and confessed to assaulting them and using force to steal money.