Two Gainesville men were arrested Tuesday for human trafficking at a group home.
Kevarius King, 20, and Justin Hoyt, 25, are accused of coercing a woman to perform sexual acts for about two weeks at Safe Hands Group Home, located at 1221 NW 31st Ave. They are each being held on a $250,000 bail at the Alachua County Jail.
King and Hoyt forced the female victim into “commercialized sexual activity” with dozens of men inside the group home, according to the Gainesville Police Department arrest report. The group home also partners with homeless shelters.
The woman told GPD she met King and Hoyt when she moved into the home Sept. 19. She was forced to perform sexual acts on men in the home, and while she was doing so, King and Hoyt took photos and videos of her with their phones, the report revealed.
The victim reported feeling “forced” to perform the sex acts and often did them without consent. She even would “involuntarily vomit from disgust” and feared she would contract a sexually transmitted disease, according to the arrest report.
King and Hoyt would arrange the meetings with men in the group home and receive money in exchange for the victim’s sex acts, the alleged victim told GPD. If she refused to perform the acts, King and Hoyt would “yell” at her, the report read.
The arrest report also revealed King and Hoyt told the woman not to eat too much food and wear certain clothes they bought for her.
It’s “basically like they own me,” the victim told GPD, according to the report.
The victim told police on Oct. 2 that while she was performing sex acts on a male suspect, he shoved his fingers in her mouth without her consent and forced her to take a MDMA drug commonly referred to as “molly.” She also drank from a bottle of brandy given to her by King and Hoyt, according to the report.
Soon after, the woman had a seizure and fell unconscious for several hours, she told police. She passed out on her bedroom tile floor and woke up questioning whether she was sexually “violated” while unconscious, according to the report.
The woman was later taken to the Tower Road Branch Library at 3020 SW 75th St. by King and Hoyt where she told the staff she was a victim of human trafficking and to call police.
A search warrant for the residence revealed multiple items of mail/receipts in the names of both suspects, condoms and an empty bottle of brandy, the report shows.
While on the scene for the warrant, King and Hoyt were seen driving in King’s dark blue Hyundai. GPD placed the men under arrest Tuesday afternoon at a gas station at 3001 NW 13th St.
Both men were in possession of the phones matching the woman’s description as the ones used to take videos of her performing the sex acts, according to the arrest report.
King has been a caretaker at Riverwood Rehab — a nursing home community in Starke — for two weeks, court records show. He’s also been a student at Santa Fe College for two months.
Hoyt’s a registered sex offender, court records show. He has previously been convicted of attempted sexual battery, child neglect, and DUI since 2016.
King and Hoyt were also suspects in a previous incident of human trafficking at Safe Hands Group Home six months ago, according to the arrest report.
Contact Lily Kino at lkino@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @lily_kino.
Lily is a third-year journalism major with a concentration in environmental science covering criminal justice for The Alligator. Last semester, she served as the Santa Fe reporter. When she's not writing, you can find Lily on a nature walk, eating Domino's Pizza or spending time with her friends.
