Former East Chicago Man Charged Again In Human Trafficking Of A Child
An extensive investigation by Merrillville & Milwaukee Police ended with charges of Promotion of Child Sexual Trafficking for a Chicago man this week.
An investigation that initially started in September of 2024 involving a 15 year old teen from Wisconsin was brought to light by a DCS worker, according to court documents. The DCS worker reported to Merrillville Police allegations that a teen was prostituted in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois, while being drugged, and then transported to meets, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The teen, who reportedly met the suspect via an app while in Wisconsin, told the man she was struggling on her own, out of food, and didn’t have housing. The suspect told the victim that she could come to Indiana and he would take care of her. Over the course of several messages, the teen, having no options, agreed and the suspect came to Milwaukee to pick her up. The suspect told her she didn’t have to worry about being alone and struggling anymore, the affidavit said.
Once the teen and suspect got back to Indiana, the suspect pulled into a parking lot near the motels on Mississippi in Merrillville and said “you know what you have to do for me.” The teen was told to do sex acts with the suspect in exchange for him taking care of her.
The following day, the teen was told to take pictures for the suspect and another female at a motel, who she believed was also being prostituted, for a way to advertise to make money on websites. The teen was also given ecstasy to relax her multiple times during the course of the week.
During the week, she was told to go to motel rooms of arranged dates via websites by the suspect to make money. During the week, she had multiple appointments in vehicles or at various hotels including Knights Inn, Red Rooster, Suites Inn, Home 2 Suites, and Diamonds Inn. The motels were located in Merrillville, Terre Haute and Chicago. Initially, the suspect was demanding but, as the days progressed, he grew aggressive physically and demanded more appointments be completed. The victim believed she had earned $800 over a few days, but was only given $100 by the suspect and took more abuse.
At the end of one of the days, the victim told the other female she was hurting, tired, and still bleeding from the appointments. The woman and the suspect denied her medical treatment or a rest, and insisted she use a sponge to stop the bleeding during the future appointments.
Evidence was gathered during the course of this investigation showing money exchanges on cash apps, as well as a warrant search of emails and website listings which were connected to the suspects phone.
The suspect was identified as Jeremy McCovins, 31, of Chicago. McCovins currently has a pending case in Lake County for Human Trafficking and Promoting Prostitution, in which the allegations occurred in 2022. Hearings in the case have been continued. That case involved a sting operation of meeting women at a Hobart motel setup by McCovins.
Another pending case also being continued in recent hearings is for a high speed pursuit leaving the motels in Merrillville on suspicion of trafficking in April of 2024, that ended in an arrest and K9 apprehension.
