Tuesday, October 1st 2024, 10:05 pm
Residents were left shaken following a morning raid at an Oklahoma City apartment near North Western Avenue and Hefner Road.
Tuesday, agents with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics arrested a man and woman accused of trafficking young girls. “You don’t expect something like this to happen across from where you live,” said resident Artmiese Newton.
Residents said OBN agents and Oklahoma City police stormed the apartment and kicked in the front door. They said assumed the raid was drug-related, and never suspected young teens were allegedly being sold for sex. “I never seen them get their home together, it just seemed like a trap house,” said Newton.
While there had been disturbances at the apartment that now sits vacant, Newton said she never expected to see her neighbors at the center of a human trafficking investigation. “Prostitution yes, drug dealing yes, but trafficking? No, that's crazy to me,” said Newton.
Court filings reveal in July the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics began investigating Latavia Robins and Tony Polly. “Every time she saw me she would speak. He never spoke to me though, he would just stare,” said Newton.
Investigators said the two would post ads to "commercial sex websites" soliciting two female victims, 16 and 17 years old. The so-called "dates" took place inside the apartment Robins and Polly shared. “There would be people leaving from the night before. So, when I get off work new people are coming in and people leaving,” said Newton.
The victims told investigators Polly was Robins’ pimp. And that Robins"coached" them on how to "conduct dates." “That’s so dangerous, I feel so bad for those girls. That’s horrible,” said Newton.
The victims said Polly would sit in on the dates to "make sure nothing bad would happen," and that Polly and Robins often kept the money for themselves. “You never know who your neighbor is you have no idea what’s going on, that’s terrifying,” said Newton.
Both Polly and Robins remain jailed on multiple complaints including human trafficking of minors, and maintaining a house for prostitution.
Following their arrests, an OBN spokesperson said they were grateful the victims in this case had the courage to speak out.
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