3 Accused of Holding Woman, Forcing Her Into Prostitution

Three people have been charged with kidnaping and pimping for allegedly forcing a 22-year-old Baltimore woman into prostitution as part of what police called a white-slavery ring based in Studio City.

The alleged leader of the ring, Charles Primus, is scheduled to be arraigned today in San Fernando on 12 felony counts. Six of them involve the Baltimore woman, described by police as a naive, “All-American girl” who recently moved to Los Angeles.

Primus, 24, who has been held without bail since his arrest Aug. 23, faces six additional charges of kidnaping, pimping and having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old runaway from Phoenix, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Arrested with Primus outside a Studio City apartment were Darryl Williams, 29, and Jennifer Tedesco, 24, both of whom face charges of kidnaping, pimping, pandering and false imprisonment in the case of the Baltimore woman, Detective Mike Pavelka said.

Williams was at first freed on $6,000 bail but, after the filing of charges Friday, bail was raised to $50,000 and he was jailed, Pavelka said. Police are searching for Tedesco, who originally was released without bail, he said.

The three were arrested after the Baltimore woman went to police Aug. 22 saying she had escaped after being held captive and terrorized for four days, police said.

Police said the woman told them that she met Tedesco in Venice on Aug. 19 and accepted an offer to share Tedesco’s apartment on Coldwater Canyon Avenue. But, when she moved in, Primus raped her at gunpoint and forced her into acts of prostitution, according to police.

‘A Complicated Case’

“This is a very complicated case,” Pavelka said. He said law-enforcement agencies in Las Vegas and Phoenix were also investigating Primus on suspicion of running a white-slavery ring.

The teen-ager from Phoenix “ran away from home to Hollywood,” Pavelka said, “and was met by Mr. Primus, who just basically told her, ‘You’re going to work as a prostitute for me.’ After her second day, she got away from him, but he found her and beat her.