A 23-year-old woman was abducted near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown last month, shoved into a Mercedes and beaten before being driven cross-country and forced into acts of prostitution along the way, sources said.
She was “forced to engage in prostitution” in Chicago, Grand Junction, Colo., and Salt Lake City, Utah, before she was able to escape her captors in Salt Lake on Sunday, according to a local jail report filed in connection with the case.
Cops arrested her alleged assailants, Jean Joseph, 27, and his girlfriend, Tara Pinnock, 24, who purportedly acted as her pimp, arranging sex-for-cash hookups during their trip, the sources say.
Both face charges of human trafficking, kidnapping and rape.
Because of the multiple jurisdictions involved, the Salt Lake City Police Department is teaming up with the FBI, according to a tweet provided by the department Monday.
“SLCPD is partnering w/FBI on case due to interstate nature of the case,” the department’s tweet noted.
A PA source said last night that PA Police Department detectives were expected to lend a hand looking for evidence of the abduction.