Two men and a woman who were charged Wednesday with torturing a woman forced into prostitution in Orange County allegedly tied the victim up, beat her and burned her, authorities said.
The 26-year-old unidentified victim was found with burn marks, contusions and a black eye when Costa Mesa police responded to the Days Inn motel on Newport Boulevard Monday.
The woman said she had been held in hotel rooms for several days, tortured and sometimes blindfolded and forced into a closet. One of her captors threatened to kill her and her family if she tried to escape or contact police, she told police.
Renice Stevenson Flores-Davis, a 26-year-old from Costa Mesa, and Cierra Rose Thompson, a 27-year-old from Silverton, Oregon, were taken into custody at the hotel room.
Another man, 33-year-old Oscar Gonzalez-Salinas of Costa Mesa, was arrested nearby based on information from Westminster police, who had recently been looking for suspects in connection with kidnapping and human trafficking allegations.
The arrests were detailed in a news release sent out Wednesday by the Costa Mesa Police Department.
The Human Trafficking section of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office was working with police on the continuing investigation, and authorities were asking for additional victims to come forward.
Flores-Davis, who was accused of being a pimp, allegedly recruited the victim in May to performed “commercial sex services for his benefit,” the DA’s office stated in a news release. He was charged with two felony counts each of torture, kidnapping, mayhem; and one felony count each of human trafficking, aggravated assault, pimping, and pandering.
Flores-Davis faced up to 56 years in state prison if convicted as sentenced.
Thompson, whose first name was initially given as “Sierra” by police, and Gonzalez-Salinas were each charged with two felony counts of kidnapping, and one felony count each of torture, human trafficking, mayhem, aggravated assault, pimping and pandering.
The threesome had been set for arraignment Wednesday; prosecutors planned to ask that their bail be set at $1 million.
The victim said she met Flores-Davis at a Costa Mesa hotel for a drug transaction and began working as a prostitute for him in “various areas of Orange County,” the police news release stated.
Flores-Davis allegedly forced her to remain at a Westminster motel with him, Thompson and Salinas. The assaults began there, the victim said.
Flores-Davis allegedly used zip-ties to restrain the victim, taped her mouth shut with duct tape, and blindfolded her, according to the DA’s office. He and Thompson later allegedly used zip-ties and duct tape on her again, tying the victim to a bathroom sink.
Flores-Davis and Gonzalez-Salinas were accused of beating the victim, burning her on her back with a hot clothing iron, and pouring water down her mouth and nose.
Thompson allegedly helped the men torture the victim, who was referred to as “Jane Doe” by authorities.
On July 23, the Westminster Police Department had contacted nearby law enforcement agencies to seek help finding a woman “being forcibly held against her will for purposes of prostitution” allegedly by Flores-Davis, who investigators thought might be with a woman named “Sierra.” The pair was seen with the victim leaving a motel in a white Dodge pickup truck, but Westminster police arrived after they had disappeared.
When police found the victim in Costa Mesa on Monday and took Flores-Davis and Thompson into custody, a police helicopter unit began looking for the truck, which was discovered at the Starr Inn motel, in the 2600 block of Newport Blvd.
There, the driver, Gonzalez-Salinas was taken into custody.
The victim was taken to Hoag Hospital for treatment and then to a battered women’s shelter, police said.
Anyone with information or who may have been victimized was encouraged to contact Detective Bang Le at 714-754-5361 or Sgt. Ed Everett 714-754-5395.
