LAKE WORTH MAN ACCUSED OF LEWD BEHAVIOR
LAKE WORTH — A 31-yearold Lake Worth man was a r r e s t e d l a s t week a f t e r DNA evidence linked him to a case involving a teenage human-trafficking victim, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriffff ’s Offiffice arrest report.
Alfred Warren Peoples Jr. was taken into custody Friday on one count of lewd or lascivious battery on a person under the age of 16. He remained at the Palm Beach County Jail on Wednesday after a judge set his bond at $100,000.
Human t ra f f i c ki ng has b e e n d e s c r i b e d a s t h e exploitation of another person for labor, domestic servitude or commercial sexual activity through the use of fraud, force or coercion.
The teen is a frequent runaway who repeatedly has been victimized by human traffiffickers, according to the arrest report. She told investigators that traffiffickers have routinely forced her to work as a prostitute, paying her only with illegal drugs.
The report does not indicate whether Peoples is suspected of human traffifficking, or whether there have been any other arrests in the case.
Peoples’ arrest stems from a sheriffff ’s investigation that began in May 2017. According to the arrest report, the girl, then 15, told investigators she had been kidnapped from the area of South Congress Avenue and Sixth Avenue South in Palm Springs and forced to have sex with at least fifive men.
When shown a photo of Peoples, the girl was unable to positively identify him, but told deputies she remembered someone saying the name Alfred.
DNA collected from Peoples in June was shown to be a likely match to a sample submitted last year to the sheriffff ’s crime lab, the arrest report said.
The age of consent in Florida is 18, according to Florida Statutes. No one under the age of 16 can give consent under any circumstances.
Peoples also faces drug charges from an unrelated arrest in June.