Two Charged with Prostituting Teen Girls at Local Hotel

A Mount Pleasant man and a Kenosha woman are facing 50 years in prison each because police say they ran a prostitution ring at a local hotel with teenage girls.

Landon Weatherspoon, 22, and Miranda Hummel, 18, were charged in Racine County Circuit Court Monday with two felony counts each of human trafficking. If convicted, they each face up to 50 years in prison and/or up to $200,000 in fines. 

Because Weatherspoon has a criminal record, he could get extra time tacked onto any sentence he might receive.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators from the Racine County Sheriff's Department and the Racine Police Department began a joint investigation over the weekend for underage girls being trafficked out of the Riverside Inn, 3700 Northwestern Ave., based on ads posted on the backpage.com website.

An officer arranged to meet a girl at a room at the hotel and agreed on the price and conditions she stated. When police arrived, a 17-year-old girl and a man - later identified as Weatherspoon - answered the door. Officers say the room next door was adjoining, and the door between the two was open. Another girl and a woman - Hummel - were located there.

The girls told police they've been friends since they were in middle school but had only known Hummel for a few weeks when they were neighbors in Kenosha. During the time they lived near Hummel, the girls said she often made remarks about making easy money as prostitutes with Hummel's connections in Racine, the complaint reads.

Police say the girls at first turned Hummel down, but when money got tight trying to care for one child and another on the way, they changed their minds. The girls told officers they were instructed to go to a gas station where Weatherspoon picked them up, told them how the arrangement would work - including what to say and pricing information - and took pictures of them to post in the ads.

One of the girls said that Weatherspoon made sure the money was collected up front and that she never saw any of the money. She also said that while there was sexual contact with johns, Weatherspoon always interrupted before intercourse, telling the johns that time was up, the complaint reads.

Officers say the other girl related almost the same story but said Weatherspoon split the money by giving her 60 percent and keeping 40 percent for himself.

Weatherspoon was also seen carrying a gun, the complaint reads, and the girls said he told them he carried it for their protection.

The defendants remain in the Racine County Jail; Weatherspoon on a $25,000 cash bond and Hummel on a $2,500 cash bond. They will both have their preliminary hearings on Sept. 4.