An 18-year-old man who met two 17-year-old girls at Youth Challenge is accused of prostituting at least one of them and advertising her services online.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Gregory Stephen Shaquille Rodgers with two counts of promoting prostitution.
Rodgers remains in custody, unable to post $200,000 bail.
Honolulu police arrested him early Tuesday morning outside the Marina Inn hotel near the Honolulu Airport following an undercover investigation.
Police said they took one of the girls into custody in one of the hotel rooms after seeing her classified ad on honolulu.backpage.com and setting up a "date" with her at the room. They said they saw the other girl leave the same hotel room before the undercover officer’s meeting with the first girl, then later located her and took her into custody.
The first girl told a female officer that she needed help leaving prostitution and that Rogers was profiting from her. Police said the girl also told them that Rodgers knew she was 17.
Police said the second girl told them she went to the hotel and met with the first girl in the room from where she posted a classified ad on backpage.com. She told police she paid for the ad using a credit card number Rodgers had given her.
She also told police she had her first prostitution date earlier that day.
Deputy Prosecutor Patricia Kickland said one of the girls is a runaway and a ward of the state.
She said Rodgers, who recently turned 18, set up the online classified ad for the first girl on backpage.com, arranged her dates, provided her clothing and hotel rooms, took photographs of her, and collected the money but didn’t give any of it to the girl.
The Hawaii National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Academy is a 17-month program designed to help high-school dropouts aged 16 to 18 develop life skills and increase their educational and employment potential.
