Gainesville, Fla. — Two men accused of kidnapping and human trafficking at a Gainesville group home made their first court appearance Wednesday, according to court records. Police said they were able to arrest the suspect after the victim notified staff at the local library branch to ask for law enforcement.
Kevarius Nyrtell King, 20, of Gainesville, and Justin Terrel Hoyt, 25, of Newbury, were arrested by Gainesville police Tuesday afternoon at the Gate gas station at 3001 13th Street NW, according to arrest records.
The victim told police that she met Kim and Hoyt on September 2. At 19, she first moved into Safe Hands Group Home, a housing service that works with local homeless shelters.
Florida corporate records show King co-owns Safe Hands Group Home LLC at 1221 NW 31st Ave. Documents to set up the company at the state level were filed less than a year ago, records show.
According to arrest records, the victim said that since she moved into the Safe Hands Group Home, King and Hoyt forced her to engage in commercial sex with dozens of men in the group’s home. In exchange for money, the victim must have sex for the man, sometimes without her consent.
The victims said King and Hoyt would arrange to meet the men at the group home and would use their smartphones to take pictures and videos.
The victim told police it was “basically like they owned me”.
On Sunday, the victim said a man in the group home forced her to take the party drug known as “Molly,” a synthetic mood- and perception-altering drug, from a bottle given to her by Kim and Hoyt. Drinking water from brandy, according to arrest records. She said she then had a seizure and was unconscious on the floor of her room for several hours.
King and Hoyt then took the victim to the Tower Road branch library, where she was able to tell staff she was a victim of human trafficking and call law enforcement, according to arrest records.
The identities of King and Hoyt were confirmed by evidence gathered through a search warrant on the group home. Police then arrested the two men as they drove a dark blue Hyundai down NW 31st Avenue. They possessed the phone the victim described was used to take pictures and videos of her, as well as the phone Kim and Hoyt took from her.
Not only did King and Hoyt hold the victim hostage in the group home and profit from her sexuality, but they also controlled her funds by withholding her Supplemental Security Income checks. The victim also told police that the two men were trying to open a bank account in her name.
King and Hoyt were suspects in a sex trafficking incident at the same address six months earlier, according to arrest records, and pleaded guilty to prostitution at the group’s home.
In 2016, Hoyt was convicted of child neglect, DUI and attempted sexual assault, court records show.
Both King and Hoyt were booked into the Alachua County Jail on Tuesday night, pending trial, according to county jail records. Their bond per issue is currently set at $250,000.
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