67-year-old Richard Knider Jackson of Detroit is accused of prostituting women and at least two underage girls on Backpage. Jackson would allegedly get his victims hooked on heroin then turned them out on both the streets and Backpage. Police say that Jackson kept a locked iron gate on the second floor to keep his victims from escaping and others were kept captive in the basement. He also allegedly beat his victims and kept all their money. His victims are said to have included a 31-year-old woman, two 21-year-old women, and two underage girls ages 15 and 16. One of the adult victims was able to allow the two underage victims to escape. The two girls were still missing at the time that this story broke.
The FBI is currently looking for the two juveniles who escaped from the house. Anyone with information about the two juveniles or about Jackson’s sex trafficking operation is asked to call the FBI at 313-965-2323.
With the eventual dismissal of pimping charges against the operators of Backpage, this will not only create more monsters like Jackson but it will embolden them as well. Nothing about this story is ‘right’ on any level. Backpage is not making it safer for prostitutes, there is no consenting in this story and some of the victims are not adults. But please keep telling me how a man building a prison in his house for women and girls, beating them regularly and getting them hooked on drugs so they could be raped by strangers is considered free speech.
UPDATE 1/17/2020: Jackson was convicted on federal human trafficking and drug trafficking charges. He faces a possible life sentence with 15 years being mandatory when he is sentenced in April.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 