Maryland woman charged with sex-trafficking 11 pleads guilty

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/11/24/sex-trafficking-ring-pussy-kat-klub/

A Baltimore woman accused of sex-trafficking 11 women through a criminal organization she called the Pussy Kat Klub has pleaded guilty, state law enforcement officials announced Friday.

Kenika Danielle Leach, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, distribution of cocaine and receiving the earnings of a sex worker, and she faces a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison, the Maryland attorney general’s office said in a statement. She was indicted in early 2023 on 135 counts after a two-year investigation by the office’s organized crime unit.

She will be sentenced in February by Washington County Circuit Court Judge Brett R. Wilson.

“Individuals who engage in sex trafficking often exploit people struggling with addiction, manipulating them through a destructive cycle of drug use, shame, and abuse,” said Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, a Democrat. “In this case, my office secured justice for the victims trapped in this vicious cycle, offering them a path toward healing and the opportunity to reclaim their lives.”

An attorney listed for Leach did not respond to a request for comment.

Between December 2019 and 2021, according to court documents, the Pussy Kat Klub operation coerced at least 11 women into performing sexual acts with men who paid a negotiated price. Leach, whom court documents identified as the operation’s “First Lady,” would arrange the appointments and collect the money through Cash App, authorities said.

The women met male “customers” in at least nine hotels in Washington, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, including those in the direct vicinity of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, authorities alleged in the indictment.

The women, who were not identified, were “particularly vulnerable to exploitation” because of drug addiction or homelessness, authorities said.

In court documents, prosecutors alleged that Leach would give the women drug rations — including cocaine — but control access to them to “coerce them into performing commercial sex acts.”

Police said the investigation began in December 2021, when a woman came to a Baltimore hospital with a man who would not leave her side. The medical staff told him he could not stay at the hospital unless he was a patient, according to court documents, so he registered as one. During that hospital stay, the woman disclosed to the hospital’s staff that she was being sold for sex and compensated with drugs, police said.

Ultimately, the two-year investigation spanned three Maryland counties and included state and Baltimore police.