"Richmond police began investigating Ward in April 2024, when a teen girl's mother accused Ward of trafficking her daughter while the two were in an eight-month relationship, authorities said. The girl's mother came forward after a domestic violence incident in Oakland that resulted in the girl being hospitalized, according to court records. Police also investigated Ward for alleged statutory rape and domestic violence but he hasn't been charged with either of those things."
"While this investigation was ongoing, police received a second domestic violence report, this time involving a woman who reported Ward assaulted her at a store on MacDonald Avenue in Richmond, on April 30, 2024. Ward was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and robbery, but later released without charges. The woman reportedly told authorities she met Ward in Oakland in 2022, and that he'd trafficked her and the teen girl there, as well as in Richmond and Vallejo."
Contra Costa prosecutors charged Jamon Ward, 33, with human trafficking, pimping, trafficking a minor, and pandering after two investigations that began weeks apart. Ward was arrested last month, is being held without bail, and faces a preliminary hearing on Sept. 11. Richmond police opened an April 2024 probe after a teen girl's mother accused Ward of trafficking the daughter during an eight-month relationship following a domestic violence incident in Oakland that hospitalized the girl. Investigators linked a Sacramento prostitution ad to the girl's phone and found texts from Ward discussing prostitution with a third suspected victim. Ward pleaded not guilty.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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