Man offers ride to teen girl, gets robbed at gunpoint, Salt Lake police say

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SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake police say a man, who reportedly offered to give a 17-year-old girl a ride home so she wouldn't have to walk in the bad weather, was robbed shortly after arriving at the girl's apartment by the girl and her alleged pimp.

Alex Anthony Martinez, 20, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated exploitation of a child prostitute, aggravated robbery and two counts of theft of a firearm.

Salt Lake police say a man met a 17-year-old girl at a fast-food restaurant on State Street Wednesday morning and offered to give her a ride home. When they arrived at her apartment, 2015 S. 200 East, Martinez confronted the man at gunpoint, according to police. The girl who received a ride from the victim then proceeded to help Martinez rob the man of his car keys, credit card and cellphone, a jail report states.

The girl used the man's credit card to withdraw $300, the report states. When she returned to the apartment, she and Martinez took the man's car and drove off, according to the report. The man found help and called police.

When police later caught up with the 17-year-old, she "informed detectives that she prostitutes herself by offering sex acts for money. (She) informed detectives that (Martinez) is her pimp and that he had directed her to take part in a planned robbery in which she would pick up a client on the street, bring him back to the apartment, and that they would rob him at gunpoint of his property and money," according to the report.

The girl also told police that Martinez was "manipulative and controlling of things she can and can’t do, and directs her to commit acts of prostitution," the report states.

While driving the car they had just stolen, the girl found a handgun in the glove box, according to the report. The girl claimed Martinez "gladly accepted it and remarked that he liked it more than his current firearm he was carrying," the report states.

When police arrested Martinez, he admitted to the robbery but denied "he is her pimp or forces her to prostitute, but did have knowledge of her doing so," according to the report.

The girl was booked into juvenile detention.