Hammond man gets time served for promoting prostitution

A Lake County judge reluctantly sentenced a Hammond man to time served Monday as part of a plea deal after admitting he used an app to push a blind woman into prostitution.

Stefon Collins, 25, pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution, a level 5 felony, according to a plea agreement filed May 2.

Defense lawyer Adrian Guzman told Judge Salvador Vasquez that Collins was remorseful and had no criminal history. The deal was “reasonable”, since there were also evidence issues and the woman was reluctant to take part in the case, he said.

Vasquez called the allegations “troubling to say the least”, asking why he should accept a “bare minimum” sentence.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tara Villarreal said the woman had the mental capacity of a 14-year-old and had moved out-of-state where a relative was now taking care of her.

While Collins was also legally blind, he had some vision in one eye, Villarreal said. The woman, by contrast, had to use a wall as a barrier in her apartment.

She was suffering and had regressed,accordingtorela- tives, the prosecutor said. She was “extremely terrified” and “did not want to deal” with the case anymore, Villarreal said.

“But for the prosecution’s statement, I would reject the plea,” Vasquez said.

The deal called for one year served in the Indiana Department of Corrections. With 75% required to be served, Collins has already spent about a year in jail, which was credited against the sentence.

Collins declined to speak in court Monday before he was sentenced.

Authorities accused him of using the dating app “Tagged” to lure the woman, a friend, into prostitution, according to a criminal affidavit.

The woman told police after she moved in with Collins a year earlier, he made an account on the dating app “Tagged” where he would charge $50 each for men to have sex with her, the affidavit states. He told her to go with men “because he wanted her to make friends,” it said.

She repeatedly told men no, the probable cause affidavit states. One man tried to have sex with her even after she rebuffed his advances. Collins raped her “because he wouldn’t take no for an answer,” according to charges.

The woman said she saw as many as five men per day, charges allege. She overheard Collins haggle with a man who offered $40 for her when he wanted $50, it states.

Men who paid Collins took the woman to Hammond, Gary and Calumet City, Illinois, for sex, she told police. Some kept her overnight and forced her to have sex multiple times.

He was originally charged with promotion of human sexual trafficking and promoting prostitution.