A Texas man was arrested in Miami Beach after police said he allegedly forced his girlfriend to have sex for money then attacked her when she was unable to recruit more prostitutes.
Michael William Benjamin, 34, was arrested Sunday on charges including armed kidnapping, human trafficking, deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution, aggravated battery, and domestic battery by strangulation, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
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According to an arrest report, the incident unfolded early Sunday when officers responded to the Sherry Frontenac Hotel on Collins Avenue for a report of a man unconscious and bleeding on the floor.
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Officers found Benjamin unconscious in a hallway with head trauma and blood on his neck and torso, and also found a woman with blood on her hands, a bloody nose, bruises to her face, arms and legs and swelling around her neck.
The victim said she's been in a three year relationship with Benjamin and said they were visiting from Texas, and had been in South Florida for 22 days and had stayed at multiple local hotels, the report said.
She said Benjamin brought her from Texas to sell her for sex, and said she has alcohol abuse issues and he coerced her through the use of alcohol, making it readily accessible, the report said.
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The victim said she has been seeing male clients for over a year in different cities and Benjamin sets up the appointments using an app, the report said.
She said she was allowed to keep very little cash, and Benjamin kept her phone, iPad and identification so she couldn't communicate with anyone, the report said.
The victim said Benjamin had forced her to have sex with two clients that day, had held her down and raped her that morning, and started beating her when she couldn't recruit other girls for prostitution, the report said.
She said he punched her and started choking her, and said he was going to kill her, the report said.
During the attack, the victim said she was able to kick Benjamin off her, which caused him to fall backwards off the bed and hit his head on the sharp corner of a dresser, the report said.
He suffered a laceration to the back of his head and lost consciousness.
Officers searched their hotel room and found it in a state of disorder, with condoms, pieces of lingerie and sexual paraphernalia all over, the report said.
Both Benjamin and the victim were hospitalized and he was later booked into jail.
Benjamin, of Addison, Texas, appeared before a judge Monday who ordered him held without bond and told him to stay away from the victim.
