Police blotter
The information below was provided by police unless otherwise noted.
TRENTON
Jailhouse Robbery: Kasey Benning, 23, was already at the Mercer County jail on unrelated charges when he was served this week with more bad news. Cops formally charged him as the suspect in a Jan. 27robbery at a store on the 100block of East State Street. Police said Benning shoved items in his jacket and tried to walk out of the store when he was confronted by a worker. He hit the woman in the face with an unknown object and fled, cops said. Benning was featured in The Trentonian’s blotter last week, when he was arrested after detectives from the Street Crimes Unit recovered a stolen Dodge Durango. He was allegedly spotted driving the vehicle near the intersection of Brunswick Avenue and Southard Street. Benning also provided a false name during the traffic stop, leading to a hindering apprehension charge. Shooting: Police are investigating a shooting that wounded two men on the 400 block of Garfield Avenue. Cops responded there shortly after 10p.m. Thursday and learned that two men had arrived at Capital Health Regional Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds to their abdomens. The 31-year-old victim had also been shot in the arm, cops said. The West Windsor victim was with a 21-year-old Trenton victim. Both were rushed into emergency surgery and remained at the hospital for observation. Their statuses were unknown. Police recovered “evidence” of a shooting at the scene. A police spokesman refused to be more specific about what was recovered, citing the ongoing investigation by the Shooting Response Team. Cops also wouldn’t say whether they have interviewed the victims. Police didn’t have any information about possible suspects.
MOUNT HOLLY
Human Traffickers Confess: Christopher K. White, 20, of Eastampton, and his girlfriend Adria Regn, 28, of Mount Holly, have both confessed their roles in a human trafficking operation that forced a 17-year-old girl to engage in prostitution at area motels. White pleaded guilty Friday to charges of first-degree promoting prostitution of a minor and second-degree facilitation of human trafficking before Burlington County Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert. Under his plea agreement, the state will recommend that White be sentenced to 13 years in state prison, including five years of parole ineligibility. He will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subjected to parole supervision for life. He will also be required to pay fines of $25,000and $15,000, respectively, on the two charges, with the funds to go to the state’s Human
Trafficking Survivors Assistance Fund. Regn pleaded guilty last year to a charge of second-degree conspiracy to facilitate human trafficking. The state will recommend that she be sentenced to five years in prison. Both White and Regn posted nude photos of the 17-year-old victim on Backpage.com advertising her services as an “escort.” Some photos depicted her in various states of undress or completely nude, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. The police investigation revealed that White and Regn, who would stay in the same motel room as the victim or an adjoining room, would arrange for clients to meet the victim for sex. They collected all of the money paid by the clients. The victim did not receive money. During a threeor four-day stay at a motel in Wrightstown, White and Regn made the victim have sex with at least five men each day. The victim ultimately fled while White and Regn were asleep. The police investigation began after the victim reported she was forced by White and Regn to work as a prostitute for a period of 10 days in October 2016at various motels where they lived in Burlington County. Regn has two young children, and the victim, who knew White, went to the first motel believing she would be babysitting the children. Instead, White and Regn gave her drugs, including crystal methamphetamine and marijuana, and told her that she needed to work as an “escort” for them so that they could make money. They said that if she did not work for them, it would be her fault if Regn’s children ended up on the street. The victim reported that White threatened to beat her if she did not take crystal meth, and he also threatened to find her and beat her if she did not continue to work for them as a prostitute. White is scheduled to be sentenced April 6and Regn on April 13.