A Michigan man allegedly lured a prospective au pair to his home before handcuffing and sexually assaulting her in a horrific caught-on-camera attack, according to federal authorities.
The 18-year-old woman traveled from Italy to take the nanny job only to quickly realize the suspect had other demented motives for her, a federal indictment filed this week outlined. She was told through an au pair’s website she would take care of the man’s niece, who apparently didn’t exist and help clean the house, the federal complaint states.
The terrifying encounter in October began soon after the alleged victim arrived at the East Lansing home that had newspapers covering the windows and cameras throughout the home, the FBI said. Suspect Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree allegedly insisted she go to his bedroom in just her bathrobe just as she was about to take a shower following a day of chores, and began allegedly touching her legs, which she rejected.
The 31-year-old man then grabbed the young woman and handcuffed her behind her back, the alleged victim wrote to authorities through an online complaint.
“I was afraid and he ordered me to stay still and be (quiet). I felt I was dying,” she wrote. “He put his hand on my nose and mouth and then placed a gag ball on my mouth.”
Winfree then began to grope her and asked if she consented to his actions, the alleged victim wrote, noting she said yes out of fear. During that time, she wrote he was taking photos and videos of her.
He then brought her to an empty room with a camera where he tied her legs and placed a cloth over her face before he began sexually assaulting her, according to the complaint.
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The teenager wrote she was eventually freed after she spent the night tied up and quickly booked a trip back home after he dropped her off at a bus stop, according to the complaint.
Because multiple cameras were affixed throughout the house, video of the alleged incident was later seized by the FBI during a search warrant, the complaint states.
Winfree had two other disturbing interactions with young women before he was taken into custody this week, the FBI said.
Winfree was in contact with police a month before the incident when a different woman traveled from Kansas under the assumption she was going to watch the man’s “niece,” the FBI said. When the 18-year-old reached the home, there was no sign of a child living there, the complaint states.
He allegedly asked her for a massage and offered her alcohol, which made her nervous.
She was able to leave the house when East Lansing police visited the home after receiving a concerned call from the woman’s sister, authorities said.
Winfree was also accused of having sex with a 17-year-old high school student last November that led to child porn accusations.
While the legal age of consent is 16 in Michigan and the teenager said the sex with Winfree was consensual, because the girl is under 18 and some of the sex acts were videotaped and photographed, which amounted to child porn, according to Mlive.com.
Authorities alleged Winfree received pornographic images to his phone from the teenager.
A search warrant for Winfree’s property in December led to the FBI seizing ten guns, almost 80 grams of suspected cocaine and sexually explicit materials involving the 17-year-old teen and the 18-year-old Italian, the complaint states.
He’s facing federal charges of kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a child. If convicted, he could face a maximum of life in prison.
