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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man is accused of forcing a woman into prostitution.
John Steven Lake, 59, was charged in 3rd District Court by the Utah Attorney General’s Office with aggravated exploitation of prostitution and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, both second-degree felonies; and three counts of exploiting a prostitute, a third-degree felony.
Lake was charged on Tuesday and a warrant issued for his arrest, but charging documents were kept under seal until detectives could arrest and book him into jail on Thursday.
The investigation began in June when a woman was flown by medical helicopter from West Wendover to University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. At the hospital, the woman told investigators that she had met Lake a year earlier and at first he seemed to want to help her, according to charging documents.
“At a certain point, however, Lake began encouraging (the woman) to offer ‘body massages,’” the charges state. “(The woman) explained that at that point in her life she was so humiliated and so defeated that she gave in and agreed to begin engaging in commercial sex.”
The woman also told police that “she was addicted to heroin and needed money to maintain her habit,” and that Lake “would encourage her to ‘make money, make money’ and he would assist in finding customers,” according to charging documents. Lake also threatened to tell the woman’s family what she was doing if she left.
The woman provided Lake with $400 to $500 per week, the charges state.
Lake invited the woman to go with him to West Wendover on two occasions, according to the woman. On at least one trip he forced her into working while she was there, the charges state.
One night, the woman claimed she was approached by two women and a man, had dinner with them and then went to her hotel room. She awoke “badly beaten, at the bottom of a stairwell. Police were called and emergency responders,” the charges state.
The woman was flown by medical helicopter to Salt Lake City at that time.
On Aug. 20, investigators searched Lake’s cellphone and found text messages between him and the woman on at least six different days in which they “discussed (the woman’s) involvement in commercial sex, the placement of internet ads related to (the woman’s) work in commercial sex, Lake’s appointments with (the woman) and Lake’s desired sexual acts,” the charges state.
An initial court appearance was scheduled for Monday.
