Two men arrested after girl is sold for sex, police say

A 17-year-old girl sold for sex in a Miramar industrial neighborhood led to the arrest of two men, police said.

Andre Raymon Wallace, 42, was in an idling car at 4 a.m. Feb. 6. while behind a car wash in the 1800 block of Southwest 100th Terrace, which an arrest report called suspicious.

Wallace was waiting for the girl, who was having sex with a man at a home in an industrial area south of Pembroke Road and east of Palm Avenue, police said.

In exchange for getting half of the girl’s $100 fee, Wallace told the officer he drove her to appointments.

That early morning, the pair were at their second stop, according to police.

Wallace, a songwriter from Sunrise, told the officer he used to own an escort service and knew the industry, the arrest report said.

Police also took Robert James Barnett, 26, of Miramar, into custody.

Barnett, who works part time at a car wash, said he contacted the girl by phone. Barking dogs interrupted their encounter, and police met Barnett when he went outside the house.

Wallace faces charges of recruiting or harboring or transporting for prostitution; procuring a minor for prostitution; contributing the delinquency or dependency of a child; living off the earnings of a prostitute; driving with a suspended license, habitual offender and human trafficking/ forced sex activity of a child. During a bond court hearing Tuesday, Broward County Judge Michael Davis ordered a $252,000 bond for Wallace. He is being held in jail.

Barnett’s charges were

procuring a minor for prostitution; possession of a controlled substance without a prescription; possession or use of drug paraphernalia; and contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a child.

Police found 42 grams of cannabis at his property, according to the report. He was freed on a $26,600 bond.

The Florida Department of Children & Families said the Broward Sheriff Office’s Child Protective Investigations Section, which handles such cases on behalf of the state, is investigating.

The girl was released to her parents, Miramar Police spokeswoman Tania Rues said.

Attorneys for Barnett and Wallace could not be reached for comment.