Feds say man was girl’s pimp

Suspect charged in trafficking of teen runaway

When a 16-year-old runaway met up with a South Florida man, investigators say he raped her, beat her with a frozen loaf of bread and burned her with cigarettes to control her while he pimped her as a stripper and prostitute.

Even after Jermayne Whyte, aka Turtle, was arrested and jailed on unrelated state charges, the FBI said he continued to direct operations by phone from the Broward County jail system.

And when a judge granted him a temporary release to attend funeral services for a loved one, federal prosecutors say Whyte spent some of that time driving the underage girl to a strip club in Palm Beach County where he had her working.

Whyte, 28, of Sunrise, has pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of sex-trafficking a minor. On Wednesday, a judge ordered that he remain jailed without bond because he is a danger to the community and might flee. If convicted, he faces 30 years to life in federal prison.

FBI agents said they found the girl May 28 at one of the South Florida strip

clubs where she performed after they used her Instagram account to track her down. Authorities did not identify any of the clubs where she worked.

The girl, identified only by her initials in court, ran away from California in late February or early March, authorities said. She told investigators that someone, who was not linked to Whyte, paid for her flight to Miami and she was picked up by a driver at the airport and initially worked for an escort agency.

At some point in March, the girl left the agency and began working for Whyte and his girlfriend, who also worked as a stripper and has not been charged, prosecutors said. The circumstances under which she left the agency are unclear, but investigators said she met Whyte through his girlfriend. Whyte and his girlfriend did not take a “heavyhanded” approach with the girl when they recruited her, one agent testified. The agent said they told the girl she could make a lot of money, and they were offering her a better opportunity.

FBI agents said they found evidence at the Sunrise house where Whyte lived with his girlfriend and two children that Whyte was involved in identity theft and credit card fraud. Whyte gave the underage girl a stolen I.D. in the name of a 25-year-old woman, and he and his girlfriend told the minor to tell people she was 20, agents said.

Investigators said they found evidence that the girl’s services as a prostitute were advertised on Backpage.com, and they found text messages from Whyte’s girlfriend passing along instructions from Whyte during the time he was jailed.

“He required that she give him all the money she made from prostitution and stripping, and he provided her with a small stipend,” prosecutor Francis Viamontes said in court.

“The evidence is that while he was in custody, he still called all the shots,” the

The girl told agents Whyte used a loaf of frozen bread to beat her, saying it would cause less bruising.

prosecutor said.

The girl said she told Whyte she was 16 and he required her to have sex with him. Agents testified in court that the girl “acts like a child,” and they found texts from Whyte’s girlfriend telling her: “We don’t have time for your kiddy games or drama.”

The girl told agents Whyte kept a loaf of bread in the freezer that he used to beat her, telling her it would cause less bruising and raise fewer questions when she was stripping. Agents said they also saw cigarette burns on her back, which she said were inflicted by Whyte.

The girl told investigators that Whyte required her to work as a stripper and go on prostitution “dates” in South Florida between March and May and that he sent her to work in Atlanta, Ga. for several days during that time.

Prosecutors said Whyte had stopped reporting to probation for a 2010 drug conviction in Broward County and was wanted by police when he first recruited the girl. Whyte was arrested on the probation warrant April 23 in Sunrise after police said he drove with a suspended license and gave them a false identity.

State records show that a judge ruled May 26 that Whyte could be released for a few days, which federal investigators said was for the funeral of a relative or close friend. Investigators said he got out of jail the following day, a Friday, and drove the girl to the strip club the next day.

Whyte has been jailed on state charges since he returned to jail when his furlough ended. He was indicted on the federal sextrafficking charge last week just before he was scheduled for release on the state case.

Whyte