WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A Cranston couple have been arraigned on kidnapping and sex trafficking charges after they were pulled over for a traffic stop and a woman in the backseat showed a trooper her cell phone with the message “get me out of the car.”
Niesha Bessell and Michael Gomes appeared in District Court on Thursday. Bessell was held on $75,000 bail with surety, and Gomes was held on $50,000 bail with surety.
State Police say the 24-year-old alleged victim appeared to be shaking during the stop in Providence on Wednesday. She told police she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution by the pair.
Members of the suspects’ families told WJAR-TV that it was a “bogus” story and was “twisted along the way,” and that the suspects don’t live lives like that.
