MINNEAPOLIS
An Anoka, Minn., man is charged with felony prostitution for allegedly using the Internet to sell sex with a 16-year-old girl to as many as 600 men.
Zaiye Buharruwah Dehkee Jr., 20, faces one count of prostitution involving a victim under 18, and if convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly selling sex with the girl on the website Backpage.com.
The investigation is ongoing, and there may be more victims, said Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.
"We don't know that for a fact, but it's pretty unlikely that he would work with just one girl," he said.
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According to the charges, Anoka police responded to a domestic-related call Jan. 17 and met the victim. The Anoka girl told police she met Dehkee on the Internet last spring when she was 16, and the two began a sexual relationship.
She said that after only a few days, he wanted her to wear suggestive clothing, pose sexually and advertise as an exotic dancer for his supposed business, Midwest Maidens. The girl said Dehkee told her the dancing was a front for selling sex for money, the criminal complaint said.
The girl said he posted photos of her online, and over the next eight months she had sex for money with about 600 men -- as many as eight per day -- in hotels, a Minneapolis apartment, in Wisconsin and most recently at an Anoka residence where she and Dehkee lived, the charges said.
The girl reported she gave the money directly to Dehkee, whom she described as "The King." She said he waited nearby while she had sex with the "johns," the charges said. He allegedly talked to her about sexually transmitted diseases and bought her condoms. She also described the fee structure allegedly set up by Dehkee.
The victim described a recent incident in which a "john" did not pay the agreed price, and Dehkee became upset and went to the location of the sexual encounter in Blaine. When there was no answer at the door, Dehkee allegedly shot at the door.
A search of Dehkee's home turned up a 9mm handgun. Dehkee was booked into the Anoka County jail and was held in lieu of $250,000 bail without conditions or $100,000 with conditions.
He also faces pending charges of felony terroristic threats, trespassing, felony domestic assault by strangulation and felony second degree assault.
Sommer described prostitution in the area as "rampant" but said cases involving a juvenile are rare.
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
