3 face trafficking charges after Boynton woman taken
‘I was in fear of my life,’ police said the woman told them.
BOYNTON BEACH — Three South Florida men remained in custody early Tuesday after their arrests last week on human-trafficking charges after police alleged a 19-yearold woman was kidnapped from a Boynton Beach home.
Authorities say Jackson Poinvil, 21, of West Palm Beach, and Jimmy Edmond, 26, and Christopher Thomas, 22, of Port St. Lucie, intended to put an ad on a social media site for the woman’s sexual services.
“I was in fear of my life,” city police said the woman told them during a taped interview.
All three men are facing charges of kidnapping with the intent of human trafficking. In addition, Edmond faces burglary with assault a n d h e ro i n a n d c o c a i n e possession charges and is being held on $462,000 bail. Thomas also faces burglary with assault charges, and his bail is set at $450,000. Poinvil also is charged with carrying a concealed and unlicensed firearm and is being held on $350,000 bail.
The alleged kidnapping took place just before 12:30 a.m. Thursday at a home on Northwest Fourth Street, north of Boynton Beach Boulevard and west of Seacrest Boulevard near Sara Sims Park. A witness told police that two of the men pulled o u t g u n s u p o n e n t e r i n g the home. One pointed a light-colored revolver at the woman’s stomach, grabbed her by the back of the head a nd f orc e d her t o l e ave, police said.
The woman later appeared o n t h e Backpage. c o m we b - s i t e advert i s i n g s e xual relationships.
An undercover detective s p o ke t o t h e woman by telephone and arranged to meet her at a Boynton Beach motel, offering to pay $200. Police monitored the suspects’ vehicle as a detective met the woman in the lobby of the hotel. She had bruising and appeared to have been crying, police said.
Edmond, Thomas and Poinvil were taking into custody without incident. Poinvil allegedly told officers he and the other men had gone to the Boynton Beach home to “pimp” the woman out.
Edmond later was found to have crack cocaine and heroin in his possession, the police report said.