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A former competitive cheerleader and her alleged pimp are accused in federal court of sex trafficking a minor, according to federal court documents. Officers from the Portland police Prostitution Coordination Team initiated the investigation.
(The Oregonian/File)
A federal grand jury has indicted a 19-year-old former competitive cheerleader and a 30-year-old man on the charge of sex trafficking a minor, a 17-year-old Lake Oswego girl.
Konrod Steven Mason, 30, and Julia Lynn Haner, 19, were arrested Saturday night at a Beaverton hotel on federal arrest warrants. The two were booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on Monday on a U.S. Marshals Service hold.
Haner is accused of recruiting for prostitution a 17-year-old girl she used to ride the school bus with to Lake Oswego High School, according to federal court documents.
Konrod Steven Mason, 30
The arrests occurred after officers on the Portland Police Bureau's Prostitution Coordination Team contacted the 17-year-old who was featured in a prostitution ad on backpage.com.
An undercover officer then set up a date with the minor and took her into custody when she entered the hotel room, according to court records.
Haner used to cheer competitively in the Portland area for a non-school team, and cheered for Lake Oswego High School during the 2011-12 school year. She attended Lake Oswego High School from 2011 through 2013. Haner only took one class a day during the 2012-13 school year, according to the school district.
After leaving Lake Oswego High, she began working in strip clubs and eventually for Mason as a prostitute, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacie Beckerman.
Haner reached out to the 17-year-old by sending her messages on Facebook, persuading her to "make money'' with her and Mason, according to Beckerman's memo seeking continued detention for the defendants. At first, the 17-year-old girl didn't understand what Haner was talking about, but it wasn't long before she found out, the court records say.
On Feb. 18, Haner and Mason picked up the 17-year-old at a Lake Oswego gas station close to the girl's home. Mason said that the three of them were going to be "a team,'' but he told the 17-year-old that she'd have to give up everything in her life for him: no boyfriend, no lies and no leaving him without permission, according to Beckerman's memo.
The three drove to a Motel 6 in Vancouver, where Mason and Haner took photos of the 17-year-old and then posted them on backpage.com to advertise her services. The three stayed at the motel for several days, before moving to the Alladin Inn in Portland, where the two women performed sex in exchange for money that was paid to Mason, Beckerman allege.
The 17-year-old returned home briefly, but then joined Haner and Mason again, traveling to Eugene to continue in the prostitution trade, court papers allege. The trio ultimately returned to Portland, where police found the 17-year-old and returned her to her family. The 17-year-old is no longer enrolled at Lake Oswego High School, federal authorities said.
Julia Lynn Haner, 19
"Haner recruited the minor victim because she claimed she was lonely working in prostitution by herself, '' Beckerman wrote in the detention memo. "Unfortunately, Haner was also tasked with recruiting new girls, and as a local girl she has a vast network and apparently knows how to recruit her most vulnerable friends.''
Mason has prior convictions for strangulation and fourth-degree assault in both Multnomah County and Clackamas County in 2009.
On Saturday night, investigators found Mason and Haner at a Beaverton hotel. They had allegedly recruited a 20-year-old woman to work with them. The 20-year-old used to cheer with Haner, according to the federal court records.
The three had just returned to the hotel from a shopping spree, federal authorities said. Mason and Haner used profits from their prostitution work to pay for hundreds of dollars worth of new clothing for the 20-year-old woman.
"Mason tried to convince her to work for him by telling her that they were a 'team,' and that she and Haner could make $4,000 per night on double dates,'' Beckerman wrote in the detention memo.
Detention hearings are set for Haner and Mason in U.S. District Court in Portland later this week. Haner is due in federal court on Wednesday afternoon; Mason on Friday afternoon.
--Maxine Bernstein