A couple accused of prostituting a developmentally delayed 17-year-old girl in St. Paul have been sentenced to matching one-year jail terms.
Tyree E. Jones, 18, of Fridley, and Bionca Mixon, 23, of St. Paul, were charged with prostitution and sex-trafficking offenses after the girl told police that they forced her to have sex with 30 men.
The charges say the girl, who has Asperger syndrome and is at the developmental stage of a 13-year-old, met Jones on a social website and ran away from Iowa to Minnesota on Jan. 25. Jones forced her to have sex with him three times and with other men for money, the charges say. Jones and Mixon also threatened to beat her up if she called for help. She eventually called police on Jan. 31.
According to the complaint, Mixon told police: "I knew from the second day of being around her that she was slow and that she could be easily taken advantage of."
ANTHONY LONETREE
