A convicted pimp has been charged with two counts related to sex trafficking at hotels in Woodbury and Oakdale.
Calvin Keith Caldwell Jr., 32, of St. Paul, has been charged with two felonies: one count of sex trafficking and one count of promotion of prostitution. The charges stemmed from an investigation conducted by the East Metro Sex Trafficking Task Force.
According to the criminal complaint, members of the EMSTTF conducted an investigation regarding a commercial sex operation at a hotel in Woodbury.
On Nov. 12, police came across a commercial sex ad posted online in the city of Woodbury, depicting women soliciting sexual services, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement traced the phone number from which the ads were tied to and they found the number was also associated to more than 400 ads in 2019 in various states, the complaint reads.
A detective initiated an undercover text exchange and was given the location of a hotel in Woodbury.
On Nov. 13 a concerned citizen called reporting that a female sex worker at a hotel in Woodbury was assaulted "by her pimp" and went to an area hospital for her injuries.
The caller gave the victim's identity to police, and said they were concerned for the woman's welfare.
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The caller said the incident occurred on Nov. 12 before the "pimp" had been arrested for a DWI, the complaint states.
A detective confirmed the hotel regarding the call and the hotel in the sex ad were the same.
Authorities found that the driver arrested for the DWI was Caldwell, and that his passenger was the woman who the concerned caller had called about.
The woman told police she had been physically assaulted earlier at a casino, the complaint said. She refused an assault investigation, but was treated at Woodwinds Hospital for injuries.
The detective initiated another undercover text conversation that lead to a "full service" agreement for one hour for $400, prosecutors said.
During the text conversation, the detective was asked if they could change the location to another hotel because hotel staff in Woodbury would ask guests for their identification. The detective gave them an address to an apartment in Oakdale, and set the meeting time for 11:30 a.m.
Once the agreement was made, EMSTTF members conducted surveillance at the Woodbury hotel and saw Caldwell drive the woman to the Oakdale apartment, prosecutors said. Caldwell was arrested shortly after he dropped off the woman at the main entrance of the apartment.
Investigators found that Caldwell had been trafficking the woman through several states, posting ads in the states they went through and benefited financially from it, the complaint said.
Caldwell has several felony convictions, including a prior qualified human trafficking offense.
