BALTIMORE — Lakeya Aldridge was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit kidnapping by a U.S. District Judge.
The 41-year-old from Federalsburg, Maryland conspired with 33-year-old Joshua Lankford in October 2018. The two recruited a victim to perform sex acts in their direction.
The victim was told that she would make enough money to buy a house and attain custody of her son. At one point, the victim was yelled at by Aldridge because she didn't make enough money.
She was scared for her safety, so she tried to jump from a moving car to escape. The victim was then recaptured and a belt was placed around her neck to prevent her from trying to escape again.
Lankford and other members of the sex trafficking conspiracy drove the victim to railroad tracks and beat her with a belt for her disobedience. Afterwards, they took her to a hotel where she was forced to walk around naked and take a cold shower. Later that night, members of the group drafted a "sex acts" sheet which listed the acts the victim would be required to perform for customers moving forward.
It wasn't until the morning of October 30, 2018, that the police would ultimately discover the victim. She grabbed Aldridge's phone and called 911. When the troops arrived to the room, they could clearly see the victim was in distress and needed help.
The conspirators were then detained.